Everlasting Commotion
by Maecen
Summary: Shawn always tries to interfere with Lassiter's work, but what happens when a case becomes too dangerous for both of them and someone gets seriously hurt... or worse.
1. White Light

**Warning: Contains Shassie.**

**Author's Note: My first Shassie fic. Thanks for reading.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Psych. Sorry.**

**White Light**

He fought hard to comprehend what had just happened. No matter how hard he tried to focus and think about what occurred, the bullet burning in his side distracted him. All he could see, all he could feel was a white-hot glaze flashing inside his mind. Stuttering and writhing was the only thing he found himself doing. The cold ground against his hot, flushed body made him nauseated and brought on vertigo. It seemed like the longest time that he bathed in the pale burning light before he felt hands clamp hard against the sides his head.

"Spencer, open your eyes! Open your eyes!" Lassiter began tapping on the younger man's face probably harder then he should have. "Shawn! Look at me! Look at me!" Lassiter was good a barking orders but this time be panicked when he didn't get the response he so desperately needed. He reached for his radio and fumbled it before placing it near his mouth. "Back-up move in. I have a civilian down, bullet wound to the torso. I repeat; Civilian down, I need a bus here at central point immediately!" The entire time that Lassiter was speaking into the radio he was looking at the young man underneath him. His eyes were tightly shut as he grabbed his side. Blood was spilling over his hand. Lassiter dropped the radio and it landed hard with a crack. Stripping off his jacket and folding it into a messy clump, he pried Shawn's hand off his own body before pressing the cloth against the wound. Shawn cried out and he continued to twist in pain, but his movements begin to slow. To the detective this was not a good thing; if he stopped moving it meant his body was becoming weak and would fail. "Spencer." Lassiter began tapping the man's face again with his free hand.

"Lass…" The younger man finally spoke and his dark green eyes were barely visible past weak lids. He grabbed the detective's arm and squeezed hard as another pain shot through his body, causing his back to curve and his legs to shuffle. He opened his mouth as if to yell but the white-hot light in his mind coursed through his body, silencing him until it faded away. "What happened…?"

"Don't worry about that now. You have to stay awake. Do you hear me? Keep awake and talk to me until help comes." Lassiter stammered. The worst scenario he could think of just went down in front of his eyes. He should have known better. He should have known that Shawn had followed him. He should have been prepared but he had been blind sighted by his undercover act. As the man, he has said to hate more than any criminal, was bleeding on the ground next to him, he couldn't have felt more ashamed or worried. _He's not a bad guy. He isn't a murderer, rapist or a druggie. He's just some kid that decided that he never wanted to grow up. He doesn't deserve to be like this and it's my fault. It's entirely my fault._

Shawn kept opening his mouth to say something, but he couldn't concentrate on what to state. His mouth was dry and he could feel his throat get coarse. He wanted to cough, but was scared of the pain it would cause his body._ The light. I don't want to see that light in my head again. _"Are they coming? It hurts…"

"Soon. It's gotta be soon." He said, stammering, as his own panic heighten. He looked around for any sign of his back-up. The night was still and quiet. They only thing audible was the buzz of the street light directly above them both. "We set up a large enclosed perimeter that divided me away from stand-by. It shouldn't be too long now, though."

Shawn tried to laugh. "Large perimeter? Did your fat ego decided that one?"

Lassiter looked down angry at his unexpected comrade. "It was to prevent anything like this, Spencer!" He pressed the cloth harder against Shawn's damage as he begin to notice that the psychic didn't show any sign of more weakness or fading. Shawn groaned aloud before shooting a glare towards the detective. Lassiter knew this wasn't the best time to scold the phony psychic but as his panic dissolved because of Shawn's humor, his anger surfaced. "How the hell did you get past the barricade in the first place? And then you go and step under a light with no cover, in plain sight. You read the damn report! The guy is more paranoid then a mental patient. He would have shot anyone at all, why do you think we closed off the entire area?"

The psychic sighed deeply, acknowledging that he really did mess up this time but argued nonetheless. "Funny, the report forgot to mention he was a firearm wielding freak. What the hell is he trying to compensate for carrying that gun around with him?" He shifted trying to get comfortable on the hard ground. His side no longer burned but turned sore. It was weird; arguing with Lassiter seemed to make the pain dissipate some.

"Criminal, Spencer. Criminal! It's still your fault. You just had to get into the middle like always. I know we butt heads a lot, but don't you trust me in my job in the least bit? I mean, there is a reason I'm head detective after all!"

Shawn pasused for a moment and looked at Lassiter. The detective thought the psychic was about to say something but when Shawn did nothing but stare, he became confused. "What…?"

"Lassie…" Shawn closed his eyes as a chill past through his body and he found him self shivering. "My stomach hurts…"

Lassiter looked down at Shawn's wound. It was still bleeding. "You got hit right below your rib cage. Depending on how deep the bullet went, your belly could be filling with blood."

The younger man suddenly seemed very pale. "That's what I thought…" He began to struggle to get up. "I'm gonna throw up, help me up…" Lassiter looked around franticly before grabbing Shawn's arm and helped him turn over on his knees.

"I don't think you should…" Lassiter stated but stopped when Shawn began to heave. Blood spattered the ground and gleamed from the light above. It wasn't much, but enough to make the experienced detective sigh and turn his head away. Lassiter's hands were resting on the man's shoulders. When Shawn began to dry heave a second time Lassiter rubbed Shawn's frame. The detective could feel the man trembling in his hands. "Spencer, you have to relax. The spasm the vomiting is creating could be making your injury worse."

Shawn nodded slowly, as the light in his head past from retching. The pain was intense enough to convinced Shawn that throwing up again was not a dazzling thing to do. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes becoming lightheaded, but he was just glad that white light would go away. " Lassie… I…can't…" Shawn suddenly dropped out off the support from his knees in an awkward manner and fell into Lassiter.

"What's wrong?" The older man asked in a quiet and seemingly concerned tone after catching the man in his arms roughly. "You can't what?"

When Lassiter didn't get an immediate response he shook Shawn. The man was limp and extremely still against him.

"No, no, no. Spencer…" Lassiter tried to disturb the boy again before holding him in a cradling position. There was no color in his face, except the scarlet around his mouth from the moment before. "Sh…Shawn!" Lassiter felt the panic from before swell back into his stomach. He continued to try to stir the smaller man in his arms. "Listen to me! I told you to stay awake. Don't you remember?!" Lassiter paused. _Wait… he did remember. That's what he meant when he said 'I can't.' _"No…" Lassiter looked around nervously when he heard numerous sirens in the distance. He yelled into the darkness for someone to hurry before looking back down into the younger man. "Come on, Spencer." He spoke to the unconscious man as he stood up and lifted him up in his arms. The head detective met the patrol cars halfway. The driver in the crusier in front hit its brakes hard when Lassiter suddenly stepped in front of it.

O'Hara nearly tumbled out of the cruiser before it even stopped. "Lassiter!" She placed a hand over her mouth when she realized who the damaged civilian was. " Oh my God! How did he…?"

"Where's that damn ambulance?" He asked in a harsh tone directed straight at Juliet. "He's already lost consciousness. He isn't going to last much longer!"

She gaped at him, still looking at the lifeless figure in his arms. "They were behind us. They'll be here soon."

Just as she spoke the warning of the ambulance became clear.


	2. Scarlet Stain

**Warning: Shassie. Three cheers for man love.**

**Author's Note: I want to thank everyone who read and many more thanks to those who reviewed. My first Shassie fic. Let me know how I am doin'. I am still debating on whether or not to keep the rating T or up it too M and put some nice slash scenes in. Tell me what you would like.**

**Disclaimer: I, in no way whatsoeva, own Psych or it's characters. I am simply borrowing them.**

**Scarlet Stain**

The waiting room was freezing and nearly empty aside from a strange middle-age woman looking rather nervous. Lassiter could feel her continue to glance at him which seemed to make her even more nervous. He finally realized that his scarlet stained dress shirt is what her gaze kept focusing on. Lassiter was in a chair close to a corner. He was looking at the floor and hadn't raised his head once to speak to the older man sitting across him. Lassiter didn't think to call Henry until Juliet had mentioned it and now he regretted doing so. Lassiter could feel the aura of anger radiating from the psychic's father, which was most of the reason that kept the detective from talking to him. He felt guilty as well, not wanting to speak of his failure and not being capable of protecting Shawn.

_Maybe Spencer is right. I must not be cut out for this job._

The chief had reprimanded him over the phone. River Coen, the assailant, had gotten away and possible fatality on his watch. Karen gave Carlton the news that he was officially off the case and that Spencer would have to be question when he woke up. With nothing more than a sigh he accepted it as his penalty and Juliet went back to the precinct to try and locate Coen, needed to be charged with attempted murder now. Lassiter tried to think of what went wrong. He acted as fast as he could; Coen had only got one shot off before Lassiter returned fire. He fired a few rounds, too dark to tell if he made contact, before Coen ran from sight. Lassiter didn't realize what had spooked the criminal until he turned to see Shawn on the ground by a light post behind him.

Carlton pulled himself out of his memory. He really didn't want to think of that now. For all he knew, Shawn could be fighting for his life or had already lost.

"Detective."

Both Henry and Carlton jumped up and faced a very young man in a long white doctor's coat. His hair was cut short and laid flat against his forehead. He was carrying a clip board and flipping through pink papers attached to it.

"I'm Shawn's father." Henry finally spoke. "What's his status?" He said, surprisingly calm.

Lassiter looked at Henry for the first time. The man was pale and his forehead glistened as if he'd been sweating.

The doctor dipped his head to Henry. "I'm Dr. Swan. I examined your son when he arrived. At the moment he's in surgery with Dr. Tan. As you may be aware he suffered a bullet wound to the right side area of his abdomen. The bullet entered his body at such an angle that it missed any vital organs but it did rupture his stomach. The damage was not too severe and he will make a full recovery if the surgery goes well but the area was under a lot of stress and seems extremely agitated. It is going to be a very slow recovery for him, my regards go to both of you."

Henry sighed and turned about to go sit down. Lassiter looked to the doctor and spoke. "He was unconscious when he came it, has that changed?"

Dr. Swan shook his head. "He didn't regain consciousness before surgery and there was something else in the diagnostic that came up that concerned me. The back of his head showed signs of trauma that probably occurred after he was shot and fell to the ground. We're going to have to run some tests on him after he gets out of surgery." The doctor looked Lassiter up and down. Lassiter really wanted people to stop looking at blood on him, it felt like he was wearing a scarlet covered shame. "Detective, you should get some rest and a change of clothes. I'll send the slug to your lab to be analyzed."

Lassiter only nodded to him in a daze as the doctor took his leave. He turned around to retake his seat across from Henry. They were quiet for several moments before Carlton finally verbalized what he had been contemplating. "Henry, I need to apologize. I should have…"

Henry cut him short. "Don't you dare, Carlton. This is Shawn's fault and you know it. He got in the way of police work and now he's going to suffer the consequence." The older man's voice was strict and powerful.

Lassiter didn't want to argue but continued anyway. "If I had been faster…"

"Stop. Now."

Lassiter shifted around frustrated but did as he was told. He hung his head and both men were quiet for several minutes more, before a known face showed up in the waiting room. Lassiter thought Henry must have called him.

"Mr. Spencer." Gus entered the waiting room, looking exhausted from running through the hospital looking for the right section. "Is he okay?"

Henry didn't move from his seat and didn't seem to bother to look up to Gus as he responded. "He's in surgery right now. Doctor says it looks good but they won't know for sure until he wakes up."

Gus suddenly seemed angry. "I can't believe he went to that stand off. He usually leaves the office before I do, but tonight he waited until I left. This tops Shawn's stupid mistakes list."

Henry grunted. "You shouldn't worry about that list, Gus. I'm positive that he'll do something more ludicrous than that later down the road. Maybe he'll even get killed next time." Henry was still clearly frustrated with Shawn's antics, showing no sympathy for his injured son.

Gus glanced at Lassiter. "Hey Lassiter." The detective looked up to him. "Are you alright?"

Carlton looked at him with a confused glance before realizing. "Oh…" He stood up and looked at his shirt for the first time, already expecting what to see. His sleeves to his chest there was blood covering him. "It's Shawn's…" Silence once again took over. "You know what, I'll be back. I guess I should clean up."

"If something changes…" Henry paused a moment and but his face in his hands. "I'll call you…"

"Thanks…" Lassiter said quietly as he exited the waiting room.

He got some odd looks as he made his way out of the hospital and it felt like everyone who saw him knew he had failed. _Would I have felt this way if it was anyone else? _He didn't want to leave and he felt a continuing urge to fix what was broke. Debating in his head, he finally decided that he would clean up at home before heading straight back to the hospital. He knew he wouldn't be able to slumber even if he tried and drugged himself.

When he got to his house he jogged up the porch stairs, careful not to trip in the dark and flung the front door open as soon as he was able to unlock it. He directed himself to his bedroom where he immediately began to strip. After he had unclothed himself, he reached the bathroom and looked at his reflection. He face was pale and looked very tired even though the rush he felt in his body felt so real. The blood had successfully seeped through his shirt and the scarlet was smeared on his chest and arms. Turning on the shower and adjusting the temperature, he looked back in the emerald framed mirror before he got in.

Carlton stared down as he let the water rush over him. He tried to think but all he could seem to focus on was the diluted red twirling around the drain. The blood made him think of Shawn, remembering how he demanded that the psychic open his eyes, remembering the relief when Shawn opened his eyes and looked at him and the fear when he closed them again. _He's right… he's always been right. I need to get out before someone else gets hurt. But why did it have to be him? It should have been me… _Remembering he had to get back to the hospital, he rushed the remainder of his shower. Lassiter hurried to get dressed, donning his comfortable pair of fishing jeans and a casual button-up shirt. Grabbing his keys he rushed out and headed for the hospital. _I want to be there to see him open his eyes._


	3. Emerald Eyes

**Warning: This is your final warning. This fic will contain Shassie. If you are not a fan of slash and do not wish to read slash this will be the last chapter you have a chance to turn back from. You've been warned.**

**Author's Note: I know, the last chapter was a bit lacking in story. I apologize. It's not enough Shassie! Probably cause Shawn was completely shunned in the last chapter. Sorry Shawn! But to remedy that, this chapter will be from mostly Shawn's p.o.v. I've also decided that on either the next chapter or the one after that for sure, the rating will be upped to M.**

** So here comes the Shassie.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Psych. Yes, such a pity.**

**Emerald Eyes**

When he attempted to open his eyes, the brightness of the room made it hard to do so. He tried to turn away from the light, but when he turned on his side it hurt so much he stayed laying on his back. The whole right side of his body was sore and his head pulsed.

As his emerald eyes adjusted and he was finally capable of opening them, a figure appeared in his blurry vision and spoke. "For once it's a pleasure to see those green eyes of yours, Spencer."

Shawn was confused. He immediately recognized the voice but the words spoken didn't fit the person at all. "Lassiter…?"

"Yeah… It's me."

Shawn rubbed his eyes; he could clearly see the man leaning over above him now. He had a milky complexion and the dark circles around his eyes made his irises lighter than they usually seem. Shawn noticed that Lassiter wasn't wearing his usual detective suit that he usually saw him in ninety-nine percent of the time. He'd seen the older man wearing a similar outfit once before while sitting with his father. "How long have I been sleeping…?"

"A while. You came in at three o'clock this morning." Lassiter twisted his wrist to look at his watch. "its five thirty in the evening now." Lassiter attempted to smile, but he wasn't very successful. "I'm amazed Spencer. The doctor's gave you a couple days at the least before you would wake up. But I had a feeling you wouldn't be down for that long. Hold on for a sec." Lassiter left the room for a moment. Shawn could see through the glass wall and watched him walked up to a dark haired man and a nurse who were speaking. A few seconds later the man followed Lassiter back into his room.

"Hello, Shawn. Glad to have you back. My name is Dr. Swan. I'm in charge of monitoring your condition." Shawn thought the doctor seemed usually young. "Being as weak as you were when you came in, you woke up sooner than we anticipated."

"So I heard." Shawn said numbly. He knew what the doctor said about him being weak was entirely true. He still felt completely out of it.

Dr. Swan let out a little laugh and smiled. "Do you remember what happened?"

His head was pounding as he searched his mind for memories and answered correctly. "I was shot." Shawn paused as a dizzy spell passed over him. "By that guy…" Dr. Swan nodded, jotting on Shawn's chart

Lassiter smacked his lips and nodded "Remember a name?" The doctor looked up to the head detective but remained quiet for an answer.

The psychic tightly shut his eyes to try and think and this time is answer wasn't dead right. _I can't remember… _"Richard Bowen….?" Shawn guessed.

"River Coen. Close enough." Lassiter sighed.

Shawn was clearly disappointed in himself as well; it wasn't like him to forget something as simple as a name.

Dr. Swan noticed his patient's frustration. "You shouldn't worry, Shawn. You're still on some heavy medication from the surgery and probably going to be very tired and tetchy" He turned to Lassiter. "He'll be in the fog for a little longer. Since is consciousness is premature, he is still significantly weak. He needs to remain calm and not stress out." Lassiter dipped his head in acknowledgement before Dr. Swan turned back to Shawn. "Shawn, when you came in, it looked like you got hit in the back of your head, do you remember that?"

He thought a moment before he answered. "I do remember that I fell pretty hard and it's hurting now, but I was just a tad bit distracted with a strange hole in my side." Shawn said, trying to smile. He just shrugged "Sorry, Doc."

"Seems you're in good spirit." Dr. Swan laughed to himself again. "Alright. I need to go over this information with you." Shawn nodded to Dr. Swan. "You were treated for a bullet wound at your side that tore to your stomach. Both inside and out it's a very sensitive area. You need to be careful of your stitches at your side, and not eat anything acidic. You're extremely lucky, you didn't suffer from shock, you didn't suffer from severe blood loss and you are currently under treatment for any infections." He stated pointing his pen towards Shawn's IV and writing more on the chart. "You're in the clear, but since you hit your head we need to run tests. It's a bit late so get some rest, we'll do that first thing tomorrow morning and I'll tell the nurse to get something for your pain." Dr. Swan stated his farewell and get well soon before he left.

"Nice kid." Shawn said jokingly as he looked around noticing Lassiter was the only one staying with him. "Does my dad know?"

Lassiter nodded, pulling up a chair right beside Shawn's bed. "Yeah, he was here with me up to about an hour ago. He'll be back later tonight to stay the night with you. I should warn you though, he's pretty angry."

Shawn shook his head. "Pretty angry? You don't have to sugarcoat it for me, Lassie." He snapped. "I've never been able to do anything that wouldn't piss my father off just a little." Shawn suddenly found himself being irritable and he didn't like the feeling at all. He struggled to get comfortable and spoke more softly this time. "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just in a bad mood plus my head is killing me." He rubbed the back of his head and was surprised when he could clearly feel the knot that formed on the back of his head. He growled something under his breath, before looking towards Lassiter. "Gus?"

"Rushed in while you were surgery and visited for a bit around noon while you were sleeping, said he'd be back tonight as well."

This made Shawn feel a little better that his best friend rushed to his aid. He started to feel a bit bad about leaving Gus in the dark, his friend probably wasn't too happy with him as well. Both men were quiet for a moment and Shawn wanted to sit up but exerted to do so. Lassiter assisted him, gently grabbing his arm and supporting his back as Shawn scooted up. He looked to Lassiter questionably. _Around noon? _"You've been with me since it happened."

Lassiter opened his mouth to protest but he was aware Shawn already knew.

"Why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be out looking for the dude that did this too me?" _I don't get it. He's dressed like a civilian and sitting at my bedside. Something's wrong._

Lassiter looked down in his lap. "I do want to catch him, but…" He glanced up at Shawn. "They pulled me off the case."

Shawn stared at the detective for a moment but then started to shake his head. "They what? But you had the guy, he was right there and you set everything up, didn't you? Why'd they take you off…?" Lassiter sat quietly before Shawn came to realize. "Wait, you mean 'cause I got hurt, they blamed you."

The older man sighed and nodded his head slowly. "Something like that."

"Whoa, wait. That's not fair! I didn't tell you or anyone else for that mat-." All of a sudden Shawn let out a painful yell that startled Lassiter right out of his chair. He jolted upward and grabbed his stomach.

"Hey calm down. You wanna tear your side open?" Carlton reached out and grabbed the younger man by his shoulders to steady him. Shawn wouldn't look at him but whispered something the detective didn't catch. "Pardon?"

"I said I'm sorry!" Shawn nearly yelled in the detective's face, thrusting the older man's hands off him.

Gaping at him, Lassiter backed away from Shawn and sat back into his seat. He looked into the psychic's eyes. They no longer sparkled with happiness like they usually do, but were darker and covered in anger. "Shawn…" Lassiter looked around not sure what to do, but he knew he had to calm him down. "Hey it's okay; it's just this one case. I wanted a vacation anyway."

Shawn glared at him and knew he was lying.

At that moment Henry opened the door to Shawn's room and barely made it through the door way without looking around apprehensively, he obviously could sense the tension in the air. "What's going on…?"

This was just the excuse Lassiter needed to get out of that room. He stood out of the chair, walked around the bed and pulled Henry by the arm out of the room, shutting the door behind him in less than three seconds. "Where's that damn doctor?" Lassiter asked to himself, franticly, still holding the senior Spencer by the arm.

"Carlton, tell me what's going on." Henry insisted as he looked through the glass at his son, who seemed to be fidgeting to get comfortable. "He looks livid."

"I told him about Vick taking me off the Coen case and he turned rabid. At first I thought he was just upset, but then he yelled at him." He said to Henry and as nursed walked by; he stopped her and asked for Dr. Swan. She nodded to him and went behind the desk to page him. He turned back to Henry when the nurse motioned to him that the doctor was on his way.

"It must be the drugs." Henry stated before Carlton could say anything.

"It is. The doctor said he'd probably get annoyed easily." Lassiter crossed his arms in frustrated manner. "He isn't lucid." He looked at Shawn through the glass and pointed towards him with a jabbing finger. "That man in there is not who he really is, and it's my fault!" He hollered and everyone turned to face the two men who seemed to be having a tiff.

"Stop! I told you this wasn't your fault, it's his! And he should feel bad, angry, upset, or whatever he's feeling now. He deserves it!" Henry began to move to the door to Shawn's room, but Lassiter reached out and grabbed his arm a second time.

"No, no. Henry. You can't go in there and preach that to him. Not now. Not while he's like this. He needs to rest and be calm, time for the medicine to wear off."

"Thanks for the tip, but he's my son and not yours."

Lassiter spun around in aggravation. "You don't understand! The way looked at me. You might be use to seeing those angry green eyes, but I'm not. I don't want to see them again." Lassiter didn't mean for it to slip out but it was too late. When he realized what he just said he looked at Henry, he could tell that his last comment hit him where it counts. "Henry… I."

"Sorry to interrupt…" Both men turned to see Dr. Swan standing a short distance away. "I am glad, however, that you took this argument away from my patient. You shouldn't have to worry." He stated speaking to both men.

"Dr. Swan, he's distressed." Lassiter begin to stutter as if he didn't know what else to say. "I don't know, I guess I'm just worried. Can you do anything for him?"

"Like I explained earlier, his body is weak, including his mind." Dr. Swan shrugged. "If it would make you feel better I could give him a mild sedative. It'll be enough so he can sleep though the night. In the morning he'll be more coherent, but we'll have to delay his exams to later that afternoon. Is that alright?"

Lassiter sighed and looked to Henry, who just shrugged. Lassiter thought for a moment about drugging a man whose personality is misplaced for already having enough in his system. _But if he's sleeping he won't hurt himself at least. _The detective nodded to the young doctor to go ahead with the procedure.

Henry added something before Dr. Swan turned to ask for assistance from a nurse. "He doesn't take well to needles, Doc."

Shawn had been watching Lassiter and his father go at it. The glass did well to seal out noise and unfortunately he couldn't read lips so he was stuck watching Lassiter fling his arms around in frustration. In the last half hour he'd seen a side of the detective that he's never seen before. Watching the man risking his life to argue with his father showed just how worried Lassiter seemed. _He blames himself for what's happening to me. I bet he believes he deserves being thrown off the case too. _Suddenly Shawn could feel his head clear and started to comprehend the things that he's been saying. _I blew up at him, but I don't remember why. What the hell is wrong with me?! I feel so irritated. _Shawn held his head in his hands for a few moments, but looked back up through the window to see what Lassiter was doing now. Both him and his father had seemed to calm down and were now discussing something with the kid in the lab coat. Shawn moved slowly to lay back now. He was getting drowsy and he still had a sensation of confusion running through his mind.

A few minutes later everyone game though the door, including a nurse carrying a stainless-steel tray on wheels. He laid quietly, but no one spoke to him either. The nurse wheeled the tray right next to Shawn's bedside, where he could clearly see what was on it. There, waiting for him, was a syringe and a small clear bottle with a metallic cap.

"Whoa whoa, a shot?" Shawn jolted up but Lassiter put a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, but I've had enough penetration for one day. Come back tomorrow."

"Shawn." Dr. Swan stated motioning for the nurse to fill the syringe. "We don't want you to get too excited. It's just to help you sleep till morning."

Shawn looked franticly up to Lassiter, his emerald eyes shaking. "Is this because I yelled at you? I didn't mean too, I'm sorry. I'm not feeling good and my head's all fuzzy." Shawn shunned away as the nurse stood ready with the filled needle. When Lassiter didn't respond immediately, Shawn looked across the room to his father but didn't say anything. Suddenly Lassiter grasped Shawn's hand in his and knelt down next to the bed. Shawn gazed at him with hope.

"Spencer." Lassiter spoke softly. "I know we don't get along and you don't like to listen to me. But I really messed up this time and I'm the one who should be in this bed instead of you." Shawn began to shake his head. "Listen, I just want to make sure you get out of this in one piece. This medicine is trying to help your body recover even though its symptoms are taking a hold on you. But I promise, if you let us help you and you go to sleep now, you'll wake up and feel a lot better. Then we can bicker and fight about whose fault this is all you want until you're satisfied. Please let me do something to help you now.

Shawn concurred with a nod of his head. The nurse prepped his arm and then administered the sedative. The psychic didn't even flinched, the entire time his focus was on the detectives hand in his. When the nurse took the tray away Henry moved to the side of his son's bed. Dr. Swan said it wouldn't take long to take effect and he took his leave once more.

Shawn looked up to his father. "Thanks for being here, Dad."

He patted his son's shoulder and even managed a smile. "Where else would I be, kid? I'm going to go get something to eat. I'll be here when you wake up."

After Henry left the room, Shawn could feel that it was hard to keep his eyes open. "Lassie, I really want to apologize…"

"Save it for later, Spencer. You need to rest now."

He shook his head. "It's not your fault…"

Carlton looked at Shawn and he could tell that the psychic was coming back. Shawn's eyes were red as if he's been crying or was just about to start. He parted his lips to protest, but instead he watched heavy lids cover emerald eyes. He rubbed a thumb over Shawn's hand before releasing it. "G'night, Shawn…"


	4. Clear Crystal

**Warning: Shassie**

**Author's Note: My apologies to everyone if this chapter seems off. I got bit by a dog on my forearm half way through writing this chapter and was rushed to the hospital. I'm being treated for an infection and the side effects of the medicine aren't fun. **

**I'm upping the rating to M for the next chapter for sure this time. I already got some good stuff typed up and wanted to get a lot of information out of the way in this chapter. It's coming! I promise. Thanks to everyone who has sticked with my story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Psych or any of the characters, but I do own a Psych hoodie if that counts for anything. Hee hee.**

**Clear Crystal**

"Ngh…"

"Shawn?"

His father was standing over him with a worried look as Shawn opened his eyes. "Dad?" He touched his hand to the back of his head. "My head hurts…"

"I know, sit up." Henry stated as he put his hands on his son to help him sit up. After Shawn was successfully settled up on the pillow, Henry plopped a few pale pills in Shawn's hand. "For your pain."

Shawn put them in his mouth and took a paper cup his father offered him. Surprisingly, the pills and the water went down smooth.

He sat next to his son's bed and rubbed his rugged cheek. "Remember yesterday?"

Shawn nodded, crumpling the empty paper cup and tossing it as far as it would go. His mind was complete crystal clear, unlike yesterday. Remembering his anger and his anxiety all over again, but didn't say anything about it. He also remembered how quiet and calm his father had been. "Thanks for not wringing me, Dad."

"Don't worry about that, I'm just waitin' till your stable. Lassiter's orders." He said leaning back and crossing his arms. Shawn laughed slightly remembering the worried Lassiter at his bedside. "Gus is here."

Shawn looked up to him nodding. "When can I leave?"

"They have some tests to run today and they want to monitor you for a while longer. If everything looks good you'll be out by tomorrow morning. Hungry?"

Shawn smiled at his father. "Starving."

Henry grinned before patting his son on the back and getting up from his chair. "Too bad. You can't eat anything until after the tests and even after that it'll only be liquids for a few days. As for me," Henry laughed as he got up and walked towards the door. "I'm gonna get some breakfast. Take it easy."

Shawn glared at his father as he walked out the door. He saw Gus pass Henry through the glass wall and Gus looked at the older man quizzically before opening the door to Shawn's room. "What's he laughing about?"

"Not much. Just enjoying my pain." Shawn sighed.

Gus shook his head before walking over towards his friend. "How are you feeling?"

"Thank God, better than yesterday."

"I heard you freaked."

Shawn cupped his hands and covered his face. He was embarrassed of his childish behavior. "I nearly bawled like a baby when the nurse came in with a syringe."

Gus tried not to laugh. "I thought you got over that needle phobia when you were fifteen."

Shawn growled. "Apparently not. Plus I yelled at Lassie for something that was my fault. I don't know why, I just felt so angry." He looked around. _I wonder where he is anyway. Wish he was here. I want to talk to him. _Shawn thought, remembering Lassiter sitting worried at his bedside."But it was nice."

"What do you mean 'nice'?" Gus asked as he took a seat in the visitor's chair beside Shawn's bed.

"He stayed with me until I woke up. Like he actually cared." Shawn looked to his best friend, fiddling with the wrist band the hospital must have put on him while he was sleeping.

Gus thought a moment. "He came in with you pale as a ghost, drenched in your blood." Gus shivered when he said it, bodily fluid is not something he enjoys discussing. "He only left for an half an hour to change his clothes and then rushed back to the hospital. I thought he would leave to go back to the precinct, but he was still here when I came back to visit you when you got out of surgery."

The psychic shook his head. "Vick kicked him off the case on account of me being injured."

Gus stood up in frustration. "See, Shawn. Not only did you get shot in the gut, but you also got Lassiter in trouble for doing his own job. In addition, everyone, including myself, is mad at you. You went too far this time."

"I know I know." It took a bit of struggling but Shawn managed to swing his legs off the bed without assistance from his friend.

Gus gawked at him. "Where do you think you're going?" He watched as Shawn pulled the IV from his arm. "You can't do that Shawn, that's your treatment. You are also scheduled for some tests later today. Do you want to get an infection?"

"Relax, I'm not going anywhere. I just want to get out of this bed, you know I can't just lie somewhere." He pointed somewhere behind Gus and his friend turned around to look. "That's my dad's duffle bag from the academy; I bet he brought some clothes for me. Get them out for me will ya." Gus sighed but did as he was told. Shawn tested stretching his side and discovered it was still extremely sore. Gus tossed him some jeans, a pale blue shirt and the necessary undergarments and he waddled into the bathroom to get dressed.

Gus listened to Shawn curse and groan in pain for several minutes before he emerged fully clothed. "If you needed help you could have asked." Gus teased him.

"Please, let me keep my pride, but…" Shawn grinned at him. "Since you're offering, you can put my socks on for me."

Gus glared but after a few moments they both walked out of the room, Shawn sporting grey socks. "If we get caught with you out of bed. I don't know you."

They started walking down the main hall. _It hurts but I need to walk it off._ "I'm ashamed of you Gus. I could've died and you didn't even bring me a present."

"I did. A pineapple."

Shawn gasped in delight. "Well, where is it? I haven't eaten in an entire day."

"You're father took it away and chunked it. Said something about being it being too acidic."

Shawn let out a little whimper and pouted. "I bet he enjoyed doing that. That man lives to torture me."

"Spencer!"

Gus nearly jumped out of his clothes while Shawn just turned around with a smile. _There he is. _"Lassie!"

Lassiter ran up to the boys with a worried look on his face. "What are you doing out of bed and even dressed, for that matter."

Lassiter was wearing the same outfit Shawn had seem him in yesterday, and looked just as tired. It also appeared that he hadn't shaved and wore a five o'clock shadow. "Lookin' for you- Geez, I'm sorry you had trouble sleeping, you should be the one in bed."

Lassiter seemed relieved when looking at Shawn with a smile on his face. _At least he's feeling better. _"I came to warn you."

"Warn me?" Shawn looked around defensively. "Is the British coming?" He was trying to be cute but only received an elbow jab to the shoulder from his friend. "What's up, Lassie?"

"I meant to tell you yesterday, but I didn't get a chance. Karen is on her way. They want a statement." Lassiter seemed upset.

Shawn cringed and Gus heaved a sigh.

Lassiter reached out and grabbed Shawn's arm and began pulling him back towards the direction of his room. "Aw, you're gonna turn me in, Lass?"

The detective grinned. "As much as I want to, no I'm not. If you want them to go easy on you or maybe even leave without them pestering you too much for answer, I suggest you get back in your bed and fake it since you are doing significantly better then yesterday."

Shawn gave a sly grin. "I'm good at faking it."

Gus looked at Lassiter with a confused look as they walked back into Shawn's room. "Why are you helping him?"

"O'Hara apprehended Coen late last night. If I can get things to go smoothly then everyone can forget about this happening."

Shawn thought for a moment with Lassiter still latched on his arm. "Ah I see, so you can get back into the case and disprove your fault, right?"

Carlton yanked on Shawn's arm to pull the psychic closer to him. "No, Shawn. Do you know what kind of trouble you are in right now?!" Lassiter glared at him with fuming eyes. "Hindering _and_ interfering with a police investigation is a criminal offense. Vick isn't in the mood and she'll lock you up if you even giggled about what happened, understand?"

Shawn was stunned and looked at the heated detective with his mouth hung open. Gus was equally startled, stepping back out of harms way toward the clear wall.

"Do you understand?!" Lassiter repeated, yelling towards the psychic.

Through some stuttering, Shawn finally gave a simple yes.

Lassiter, realizing his sudden anger, produced an apology before trying to smooth the wrinkles he left on Shawn's shirt sleeve. "Get out of those clothes and back in bed." Shawn nodded before turning towards the bathroom.

Gus gasped looking out the clear wall. "No time, Chief is coming up the hallway. Just throw the gown on over your clothes. Hurry!"

Shawn rushed and grabbed the gown from the bathroom as fast as he could without hurting himself. He threw it on himself and Lassiter attempted to tie the back up before Shawn waddled into the bed.

Lassiter threw the blanket over the wounded man to hide his jeans, just as Chief Vick entered the room followed by Detective O'Hara and two uniformed police officers.

Shawn tried to act as weakly as he could. _Did they come to arrest me?_

The chief shot a confused look towards Carlton. "Why are you here, Carlton?"

Lassiter attempted to act surprised at her question. "I've been here."

"He has." Juliet piped "He's been with Shawn since he brought him in." Shawn saw her shoot a nervous glance towards him and Lassiter. _She must've warned him that Chief Vick was on her way._

Karen nodded and glanced at Shawn. "Mr. Spencer…"

Suddenly Shawn reached for his side and made terrifying groan that made everyone in the room jump.

Lassiter directed a glare towards the psychic. _Don't over due it, Spencer!_

"Chief Vick." Gus stated "Is something wrong? Shawn's not in the best of shape." Shawn let out another groan, this time less dramatic and Gus rushed worriedly to his friend's side.

"Yes Mr. Guster. There is something wrong. Mr. Spencer knowingly snuck passed a police barricade and disturbed our investigation. He selfishly risked the lives of Detective Lassiter, himself and even the offender."

"I sensed…" Shawn spoke softly. "He had a weapon no one knew about…"

Juliet bounced in surprised. "He's right. Even though we were prepared for him being armed, there was no record that Coen ever had a gun before."

Shawn's eyes began to flutter. "A vision. I had a vision… Danger. Lassie was in danger…"

"Why didn't you inform anyone of your vision?" The chief glared at him frustrated.

Shawn began to flop around in the bed, immediately regretting it when he let out another groan. This time it was completely truthful. Shawn bit his lip. "There was no time!" Shawn nearly yelled with frustration. "He was on the edge. He was going to do it! It had to be me. Not Carlton! Me!"

Everyone was silent while Shawn sat on the bed rubbing his side. _It's all I got left. If it doesn't work I don't know what else to do._

Lassiter walked around Shawn's bed and towards Chief Vick. "Karen, if it wasn't for him I'd probably be dead. Reprimand me for whatever."

Shawn went to open his mouth but Gus gave him a push to keep him quiet.

Lassiter turned to look at Shawn, who was clearly sulking about Lassiter taking the blame. "But he's been through enough. He doesn't need anymore punishment."

Karen pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "Carlton, I'm suspending you."

"But…" Shawn puffed starting to feel anxious.

Karen raised a hand to silence him. "Don't worry Mr. Spencer, you aren't walking out here empty handed either. You're restricted from the vicinity of the precinct until I deem necessary. That means no calling Detective O'Hara or any other officer, unless in an emergency, understand?"

He gave a tired glance at Juliet, who returned with a sympathetic look, before nodding.

Lassiter looked back at his superior. "Karen…"

"We're keeping this confidential. You're on leave until it blows over. I'll contact you if I need too." She turned to leave with the other officers but stopped when the small blonde detective cleared her throat.

"Can I…?"

Karen sighed. "Quickly." She stated before heading out the door. Lassiter breathed out with relief and walked back to take his seat in the visitors chair.

Juliet rushed over to Shawn. "Oh Shawn… look what you did to yourself." She said sweetly holding his face.

"Jules, your back up was awesome." He smiled to her.

Lassiter ruffled his hair and nodded in agreement. "Thanks, for the heads up."

"You're alright though, right? I mean everything is going to be okay?" She said, looking around the room at the other occupants.

"Don't worry about it, Jules." Shawn stated as he reached out and rubbed the man's knee, who was sitting next to him with his hand. "Carly is taking good care of me, surprisingly."

Lassiter just gave a mock smile before moving his leg out of Shawn's reach.

"Oh by the way, Lassiter, we were able to pick up Coen because of you." Lassiter looked up to her questionably from his sitting position. _I haven't done anything. _"You got him in the shoulder when you returned fire after he shot Shawn."

Lassiter stood up in surprised. "Did you check with Coen's doctor friend?"

Juliet looked gleefully at her partner. "He caved. Gave us Coen on a silver platter to save his own skin on some incriminating evidence involving his medical practice."

Lassiter laughed to himself with triumph. "That doctor couldn't be trusted, I knew it!"

Shawn looked up to him miserably. "I knew you didn't want a vacation. You can't stay away!"

Lassiter paused, clearly remembering his lie. "Shawn I was…"

Shawn groaned as he rolled on his good side away from Lassiter. "Just trying to calm me down, I know." Shawn exclaimed and threw the pillow over his head. He let out a muffled. "It's my fault."

The psychic's friend yanked the pillow from Shawn's face. "Settle down, Shawn. You can't get worked up."

"Shawn I have to leave now, the Chief is waiting for me." Juliet said as started walking towards the clear door. "I'll see if I can send you something." She stood for a moment and looked at him with an upset face and then she disappeared down the hallway.

After Juliet was gone, Shawn exerted to sit up and get off the bed once again. When Lassiter reached out to offer help, Shawn took a hold of both of the detective's arms to pull himself out of the bed. "Gus, go ask a nurse for a Dr. Swan." Shawn suggested as he tried to catch his breath with Lassiter was still holding on to him.

Gus seemed surprised reaching for Shawn's chart and snatching it up. "Dr. Swan is your diagnostician?"

"The kid? Yeah. Why? You know him?" Shawn answered as he turned around for Lassiter to untie the gown.

"Shawn! Show some respect. Of course I know him; Dr. Swan is one of the best. You're really lucky."

"Gus. The boy can't be older then twelve." Shawn said, pulling the gown off of him and tossing it to the bed. He watched Gus huff out of the room in anger and shook his head. "Let's see if we can get through these tests early." He walked over to the glass wall and look around.

"Spencer…"

Shawn turned around to find a completely drained Lassiter looking at him. Shawn could tell straight away Lassiter wanted to say something and he took a wild guess at what it was. "Lassie. It isn't your fault."

The head detective shook his head. "I don't want to talk about that. It's just…" Lassiter paused. He wasn't sure what to do or what he wanted to say.

Shawn staggered up to the confused and fumbling man. "If it's not about whose fault it is, then what is?"

Lassiter suddenly seemed agitated and sighed with desperation. "You're not getting it Spencer. It hasn't been about fault. It's about you! You could have died and I couldn't have done anything to help you. All I could do was sit and wait."

"Lassie, you've done more then I could have ever dreamed to ask of you. You sat at my bedside, held my hand, ensured me everything was going to be alright, and most of all, you were just plain nice to me, as creepy as it's been. Oh and don't forget you defended me from my father. God only knows how you pulled that miracle off!"

"Spencer…"

"Come on…" Shawn spread his arms out with a smile.

"Huh…?"

"It's a hug, Lassie. You know. An embrace. Cuddle. _Squeeze._" Lassiter seemed to shy away from the psychic. "If you feel bad, then do it for me."

Lassiter reached out and grabbed Shawn by his arm and pulled the psychic towards him. The older man strongly wrapped his arms around Shawn's shoulders. Shawn was stationary at first, he felt his breath leave his chest, but wrapped his own arms around Lassiter's back. "I'm sorry…" Lassiter stated quietly still holding Shawn in his arms. _I'm so sorry, Shawn. I should have done more. I should have protected you. _There were so many things going through Lassiter's thoughts. Everything he thought, either felt new to him or something he hadn't felt in a long time. Lassiter wasn't sure if he was actually caring for the man in his arms or if his strong sense of justice was surfacing.

Shawn wanted to say something, anything, to let Lassiter know he didn't blame him. But he just stayed grasping onto the older man and burying his face into Lassiter's chest. _Why do I feel so rotten…? _He felt Lassiter take a deep breath but neither of them pulled away until they were disturbed.

Both men jumped and pulled apart at the sound of Gus loudly clearing his throat. Gus was standing in the glass doorway starting at both of them in disbelief and fear. Dr. Swan sheepishly entered the room. "Sorry, I guess I'm interrupting something again." He said with a smile. "I have a nasty habit of doing that."

Lassiter's face turned hot and fumbled to place himself down in the chair. Shawn watched and tried not to laugh before turning towards Dr. Swan. "Hey Doc, about those tests for my head."

The young doctor nodded before reaching out for Shawn's chart. "Burton was telling me about your condition, and I'm pleasantly surprised." Glancing at Shawn, obviously looking at the anxious man being fully dressed. "If it wasn't regulation to conduct these tests because of a head injury, then I would probably discharge you." Dr. Swan established. "But since I cannot do such a thing, the testing is inevitable." He shrugged. "My apologies."

"So young, yet so polite." Shawn said with a mild smile. "Can you rush those tests for me, Doc?"

Dr. Swan motioned for the psychic to follow him with a smirk. He turned to Lassiter and Gus. "I'll have him back within the hour." Shawn waved childishly to his friends as he followed the doctor from the room.

Lassiter messed his hair with his hands, his face still flushed. He didn't look up because he could still feel Gus' gaze on him. _He shouldn't have seen that. What the hell was I doing? _Both men sat quietly for several minutes until the clear door clicked opened.

"Hey."

Henry Spencer was standing in the door way glancing toward the vacant bed. "Where's Shawn?"

Gus turned to look at his best friend's father. "Dr. Swan took him for those exams they've been waiting to conduct on him. He said he wouldn't keep him for long."

Henry nodded to Gus and entered the room. Closing the door he turned to Carlton.

"Karen called me." Carlton stood, looking intently at his senior. "She wanted me to pass a message on to you, said she couldn't get a hold of you on your cell."

Lassiter nodded patting his pockets. "I left my cell in the car. What's the message?"

"You have the press sitting at your door step." Lassiter stared at him in bewilderment as Henry continued. "It got out that someone was wounded in a police stand-off. Since no one was aware Shawn was at the scene, they think it was you."

"A headline about a wounded officer in the media would sell well. Especially, a head detective of Lassiter's status." Gus stated matter-of-factly. "A good cop getting gunned down for unknown reasons. That's front page news."

The head detective growled under his breath. "She said that she wants to keep this under wraps, even the Coen case alone wasn't too be made public. Which means I can't go home until the department clears everything…"

"Whoa! Seriously?" Shawn asked, staggering into the room passed his father, discharge papers in hand.

"Shawn, do you see what your clowning around has done now?" Henry turned to his son, anger in his voice. "You got the media trailing after Carlton on a confidential case. The man's job is on the line." Shawn didn't say anything but looked miserable as he thrust his papers and prescriptions in Gus' hands.

"Henry. I appreciate your concern but scolding him now isn't going to get us nowhere. What's done is done." Lassiter placed his hand over his forehead. He was getting a headache. "I'm just worried where I can go from here."

Henry shifted stiffly and crossed his arms. "You can stay with me."

Suddenly Shawn wobbled in the middle. "No." The psychic exclaimed strongly. "I have suddenly got a strange vibe that something will go terribly wrong if you go with my father."

Gus gaped at his friend and Henry threw his hands up in defeat. Shawn knew the only person he was fooling was Lassiter, but Shawn also knew neither Henry nor Gus could protest to his 'psychicness' in front of the detective.

"Shawn, No! You're in no position to…"

"Lassie will stay with moi." He said, cutting off his father and pointing to himself. "Beside, you said yourself that no one knows I was there. It will be a perfect hiding place."

Lassiter watched both Spencers argue and protest with each other. Lassiter had already mentally decided to stay with Shawn, remembering the little time he has already spent with the psychic's father and his criticism. "Henry, its fine. I don't want to trouble you. Besides I'll take care of him while I'm staying. He needs someone to keep an eye on him and it'll help me take responsibility."

As much as Henry didn't want to admit it, Carlton was right. He didn't have the patients himself to wait on Shawn hand and foot and if the kid wasn't watched he would probably rip his stitches out within the day or eat something he shouldn't and end up back in the emergency room. Gus sure as hell wasn't volunteering his services, especially not when he had a steady job, and another not so steady job at the Psych office. Henry walked across and grabbed his police duffle bag. He shoved the blue bag in Lassiter's hands, who received it with an 'Unf'.

"He's all yours." The senior police veteran stated as he walked from the hospital room, none to happy that his son had successfully wiggled himself away from learning yet another lesson.


	5. Blue Fabric

**Sorry for such a long wait. After having fully gotten over my infection and gettin****g registered**** for my spring semester**** classes****, I was obsessed with the purchasing of my new ca****r. I love it! But I'm**** so glad to finally be back writing my stories.**

**I struggled and struggled with the last half of this story so I'm worried how it will be ****viewed by the readers. I hope it's up to par and satisfies. Also I'm sorry to those who have commented and never received a response back from me. I just recently learned how to comment back on reviews. I want to thank anyone and everyone who has continued to read my story and to those who continue to review.**

**Disclaimer: I love Psych but I do not own it. Lets just hope the writers throw some more Shassie into the scripts for us weirdos.**

**Blue Fabric**

The trio left the hospital wasting no time. Lassiter moved his car into the hospital parking garage, hoping it wouldn't be seen. This left Burton Guster to drive the two men to Shawn's apartment in his little blue car and the ride wasn't very fun. It was early in the morning, and it was clearly talking its toll on Shawn. He yawned continuously and started making strange noises that kept Gus glancing toward his friend using the mirror and Lassiter shifting uncomfortably in his seat with his hand to his forehead. He was still experiencing the same headache from the feuding Spencers. Shawn lounged in the backseat horizontally, insisting to chat about his hunger and demanded for his friend and the detective to take him somewhere to eat.

"Shawn, I'm going to fill your prescriptions and bring them to you." Gus stated while looking in the rear view mirror at the sprawled out Spencer. "And you have to follow Dr. Swan's orders and watch what you eat."

"And will you please sit up straight and buckle your seat belt. I cannot frustrate that enough, dammit." Lassiter exclaimed from the passenger seat, trying to reach to grab whatever part of Shawn he could from his own safety restraint.

Shawn just groaned, scooted further down in a laying position and out of Lassiter's reach. The psychic continued spouting about his aches and pains until they finally reached the apartment. Shawn nearly fell out of the back seat and onto the pavement when Lassiter opened the door.

The head detective grabbed him by the collar of his shirt to help him up. "I got to get inside before anyone sees me."

Shawn looked Lassiter up and down with bemusement. He'd never seen Lassiter look so casual with such an untailored look. "Okay, but I seriously doubt anyone would recognize you looking like that." He said, digging his hand in his pockets for his keys that were left in Gus' possession while he was in surgery and returned to him. "Room 108. End of the hall." He informed Lassiter as he plopped the keys in the detective's hand.

The older man gazed confused at the weary psychic swaying in front of him. "You're not going inside with me?"

Shawn laughed. "I barely have enough food inside to feed myself. Let alone two people." He turned to Gus and raised his voice with a smile plastered obnoxiously on his face. "Gus is gonna take me shopping."

"Oh, and you were going to tell me this when?" Gus sighed looking at his friend from over the hood of the car.

"You really shouldn't be walking around, Spencer."

Shawn nodded in agreement. "You're right. I'm going to go inside and rest. Gus, you need to go shopping."

Gus mumbled some profanity under his breath before telling Shawn to get the hell into the car

Shawn smiled and waved to Lassiter. "B. R. B." The juvenile psychic reached for the door to the backseat; instead he felt firm hands guide him by the shoulders to the passenger door. Lassiter opened the door for him and motioned for him to sit. Shawn did as he was told while shooting an insolent look towards the older man.

"Buckle."

"But…"

"Buckle…" Lassiter commanded through his teeth, his voice a low growl.

"My stomach…"

"Spencer!"

Shawn pouted crossing his arms like a stubborn six year old.

"Shawn, do what he says!"

"Uuuugh! Fine." _C__lick_ The restraint, unfortunately, didn't cause him any excess pain as an excuse to remove it, but stated an immediate grunt of pain nonetheless. "Ow…" His fake involuntary expression of pain earned him no sympathy points from his keepers.

Lassiter attempted his most charming smile. "Thank you." He beamed before slamming the passenger door of Gus' Echo.

The supermarket was pretty busy for an early morning. Shawn felt rather out of place shopping with the elderly and stay-at-home moms. "Here." Gus stated holding up Shawn's prescription bags. "This one is the antibiotic for any infections. I know how some types of penicillin upset your stomach so I asked for something milder, especially since it's where your wound is." Shawn nodded with thanks as Gus continued. "You need to take it morning, noon and night. It's important that you finish the whole prescription." Gus showed his friend the second bag. "This one is your analgesic…"

"My what?" Shawn looked confused at the bag.

"Pain reliever, Shawn."

"Gus, you know not to talk pharmaceuticals with me."

"It's a small dosage." Gus said, taking the bag from him. "Not very strong, but you can take up to 3 every twelve hours. No more. If it makes you dizzy or sick, lower the dosage the next time you take it. If it doesn't get better call me."

"Really? You won't turn your phone off?" Shawn said with a grin taking the medicine back from Gus and placing his it in his shopping cart and turned down the cookie isle.

Gus followed after him. "Hey. I may be mad at you, but you're my best friend. I care. What do you take me for?"

"Relax. I just wanted you to confess your love for me. Apparently, it worked." He laughed while reaching for some frosted circus animals.

"I have a question."

"Hmm?" Shawn injected to Gus as he grabbed something off the shelf and put into his cart. Probably more junk food.

"When did you and Detective Lassiter get so friendly?" Gus continued to follow as Shawn made a U-turn into the next isle.

"Grab some bread." He instructed, pointing behind his friend. "He's worried about me too, Gus." Shawn answered as Gus walked a few feet away to fetch the bread from the shelf.

Gus started walking back towards Shawn. "But he's acting different."

"Oh muffins! Blueberry." The psychic pointed again, this time more enthusiastic, passed Gus, who turned around towards the muffin section. "I guess he feels bad. Plus Vick booted him off his own sting."

Gus plucked blueberry muffins from the shelf and started walking back to his friend. "He was hugging you Shawn."

"No. I changed my mind. Banana nut." Shawn scratched his temple. "I asked him to hug me by the way. He looked terrible, he needed a hug. Maybe I should offer my hugs to him more often."

Gus turned on his heel and headed back towards the muffins. "You even said his company was 'nice'."

"It was. You know that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you meet a new friend or someone says they like you. It felt like that, 'cept times four because it was Lassiter. I didn't think the man was capable." Shawn just shrugged. "I was pleasantly surprised."

Gus gave Shawn an odd look and placed the muffins and bread in the cart. "This is Lassiter we are talking about, Shawn."

"You're right." Shawn said after thinking for a moment. "I bet he wants blueberry muffins. Gus, go get the blueberry muffins."

As Gus returned from his hundredth trip to the muffin shelf he put his arm around his best friend. "I'm just glad you're alright."

Shawn smiled at his friend. He wanted to say thanks, but saying thanks just didn't seem enough.

Shawn scuttled into his apartment holding more bags then he would have liked too. "Lassie. Come help me with the bags, please. Gus got called into work and bailed on me." Shawn looked around expecting to see the detective rushing towards him offering help, but none came. "Lassiter?"

He waddled into his small kitchen and placed the plastic bags on the floor. _That's odd.__ H__e__ wouldn't leave would he_It didn't take Shawn to locate him. As soon as Shawn entered the living area there was his detective, motionless on the couch, stomach down, with his face buried in a cushion. Shawn couldn't help but crack a smile as he knelt down beside the couch near Lassiter. He could hear the detective snoring softly in his slumber and probably getting some much needed sleep. _I bet he hasn't slept at all since everything __has __happened_Shawn placed a hand on the back of the sleeping detective's head and ruffled the hair with fondness. Shawn could feel his breath leave his chest just as it did at the hospital. He nudged the man's shoulder and then shook it. "Hey…hey!"

It took a few more moments but Lassiter finally stirred from his doze. The weary detective supported himself up on his arms and looked to Shawn. "Did you just get back?"

"Yeah." Shawn said softly, still kneeling by the couch. He could see how heavy Lassiter's eyes were and watch as the tired detective tried to sit up. "You don't have to get up, you know. I just wanted to make sure you're okay and to say I was back."

"It's fine." Carlton insisted, waving his hand. "It's too early to sleep anyway. I was just resting my eyes temporary." He swung his legs off the couch and sat in an upright position and Shawn bounced onto the couch next to him.

"Lassiter."

Lassiter rubbed the back of his neck; he could feel a kink forming and sighed. "Yes?"

Shawn cleared his throat and turned to face Carlton. "Thanks…"

"What?" The detective gave Shawn a perplexed glance.

"I wanted to say thank you. For everything, you know. Risking so much to see me through this and staying with me right now, even after all the trouble you are in because of me."

"It wasn't because of you." Lassiter argued, leaning back against the couch. "I was…"

The next moment Shawn was in Lassiter's lap, straddling him with his arms closed around the older man. It seemed like a while that neither of them moved. Lassiter's arms lay loosely at his side, not sure what he should do with them and Shawn just nestled his forehead on the detective's shoulder. Finally the psychic spoke up. "At the hospital…" Shawn paused for a second, not sure how to continue. "Remember?"

Lassiter shifted underneath the psychic and found a place for his hands on Shawn's arms. "I doubt I'll ever forget any of it…"

Shawn leaned back far enough to look at his detective and spoke softly. "Thanks for holding me…" Lassiter just gazed at the younger man and Shawn continued. "No one had held me the way you did. I needed to know that I really made it out of everything alive, so thank you…"

"Spencer…"

Gently at first Shawn placed kisses on the older man's neck. Lassiter's breath froze mid-way through his throat. He knew what this moisture tapping his neck was but he couldn't believe it was coming from the psychic's lips.

Shawn ascended his kiss towards Lassiter's jaw, feeling the detective's whiskers on the tip of his nose as he continued. That was an entirely new sensation to Shawn. He could feel Lassiter tense beneath his grasp, and whispered in his ear. "Relax Lassie-face, it's just me…"

This didn't help Detective Lassiter at all. He was on edge because it was Shawn Spencer sitting on his lap and for that reason he couldn't comprehend how this could even happen. _Maybe the drugs are still in his system. _A hindered gasp escaped Carlton when Shawn nipped at his earlobe and a heated pant entered his ear canal. "Ngh…wha-what are you doing?"

Shawn didn't answer. He pressed his mouth against the petrified lips of the detective. Lassiter tried to shrivel away from the psychic but Shawn held his ground, pressing his lips harder against the older man's. After a few more seconds on Shawn trying to get Lassiter's mouth to loosen up, Shawn flung his head back with a sigh. "You're trying to make this difficult aren't you?"

"You're the one being difficult! How do you expect me to react? Welcome you with open arms?" Lassiter felt exhausted, as if every touch from the psychic was draining what little energy he had in his body. "Even for you this is too much! Get off me!" Lassiter commanded in the sternest voice he could able.

Shawn didn't move, his eyes even dared Lassiter to shove him, pull him, man-handle him away. "No."

"I wasn't requesting, Spencer." Lassiter said, still trying to create more space between him and the younger man.

Shawn grabbed Lassiter by his chin, harder than the detective had anticipated. He placed his lips back where he thought they belonged. Shawn leaned back over the detective back into a sort of embrace. "Open your mouth…"

"No… Shawn…" Lassiter struggled, turning his head away for a split second to speak, but Shawn quickly repositioned it back.

"I wasn't requesting, Carlton. Open your mouth." Shawn commanded again in a whisper and for some reason that was beyond him, Lassiter obeyed, parting his lips and relaxing his jaw. Shawn forced a harder kiss on the sleepy detective, his tongue robbing Lassiter of his mouth. Carlton groaned in disapproval and gripped the younger man by the shoulders.

It took several moments of Shawn indulging himself before Lassiter loosened up and gave anything in return. Carlton kept his hands on the front of Shawn's shoulders as he got into rhythm of the kiss, ready to push the psychic away as his brain demanded. But his body stayed, interlocked by the mouth to Shawn. As he returned such affection he knew the psychic was dominating him, pressing his weight into the detective, showing his youth. The detective tried to keep up with the pace of the younger man but quickly found his breath escaping him and fought to catch what little breath he could.

Shawn grabbed the rim of the older man's pants while kissing him. This immediately caused the bond to break between the two men as Lassiter finally gained the strength to push the smaller man away and off of his lap. "What do you think you're going to do…?

"I want to try something."

"No, not that. We shouldn't be doing this Spencer. I should leave."

"Come on!" Shawn exclaimed forcefully pushing Lassiter down toward the armrest of the couch. "I want to make it up to you. Let me do it before I lose my nerve."

"No, you don't need to make it up to me so go ahead and lose your nerve." He said frustrated, trying to move away from the smaller man that was attempting to sprawl on top of him.

"Aw, that's the easy way out of it. I don't want to give it up just yet.

"But you're so good at giving up! I heard from your father that it's the most common thing you do. He's told me at least twenty-five times. All in separate occasions!

Shawn hung his head for a moment. "Puh-lease, don't bring my father up at a time like this, Lass." Shawn heaved a heavy sigh and threw his hands up in defeat. "Look what you did, I lost my nerve! I'm gonna give up now."

"Great. Now, I'm really glad you're feeling better Spencer so I think I should go make some food or something. Aren't you hungry?" Lassiter asked as he shifted to get up off the couch but Shawn jumped into him pulling him back down."

"Oh wait, wait! Giving up sensation passed. Come on, Lassie!" Shawn said excitedly, reaching for forbidden territory again.

N-No…" Lassiter stuttered as the younger man pulled at the rim of his jeans again. "Stop, this is wrong." Lassiter tried to push Shawn off his lower half. "I need t-to go…"

"Ah!" Shawn whimpered when Lassiter pushed him back. Shawn reached over and rubbed his side as he gave Carlton an angry glare.

"S-sorry" Carlton mumbled and reached out to pull Shawn back, trying to make sure he was in a position he was comfortable in and didn't seem to cause him any pain. Lassiter was already amazed how active Shawn seem after just being shot.

"Where are you going to go, Lassiter?" Shawn snapped and started to unbutton Carlton's cotton shirt. "Vick said you can't go back to your house. You'll really lose your job if you cause a commotion to erupt in the department."

Lassiter was quiet at the psychic's so true statement but didn't appreciate Shawn taking advantage of the fact.

Shawn nuzzled his lips against Lassiter's neck, placing kisses wherever he thought his nape deserved them. "When we were at the hospital I saw something in you I've never seen. I felt something for you and I followed that feeling by kissing you. So don't say it's wrong, just say that I can do this." Shawn undid the button of Lassiter's jeans.

"Ngh…" Lassiter tried to make Shawn let go of his pants, but his hands started to shake beyond his control.

"Tell me I can do this. I won't do it unless you say I can, so please say yes…" Shawn said softly, his face still nestled in the older man's neck. He unzipped the detective's jeans and rubbed the rough azure fabric in his hands while he waited for an answer. He fought the urge to touch skin without Lassiter's consent. "Say it, Lassie. Just say yes."

Lassiter was alarmed at the psychic's close contact but he couldn't help the growing heat that developed in his jeans. It had been to long since he has had someone so close to him in such an intimate way. His heart was racing and his chest felt like it was caving in. _Why is he doing this? He can't be serious, can he?_

"Lass…" Shawn moved down and kissed Lassiter's stomach below his navel

He drew in a sharp breath as he felt Shawn's lips touch the susceptible area. "Yes…" Lassiter said it quietly, so quietly he hoped for a moment that Shawn didn't hear it.

Shawn, however, heard it as clear as day and wasted no time clearing fabric from his way and taking the detective in his mouth.

A whimper escaped Lassiter; he was upset, scared and confused. "Why…?" He gasped, clutching onto Shawn's shoulders.

Shawn didn't respond, just continued to work his mouth around Lassiter's erection, gripping onto the older man's thighs. His tongue rushed the underside of Lassiter's shaft. Lassiter's voice rasped again and again, with what Shawn thought was a moan, came from the detective's lips everytime Shawn's tongue caressed the head of Lassiter's member. Shawn, realizing the spot, began to focus there, sucking and licking, all the while stroking to the hilt.

Lassiter groaned aloud, digging his finger tips into Shawn's shoulders. "Enough…" His voice was rough and weary. Lassiter was mentally kicking himself because of his lack of sleep. The busy detective had been awake for four days straight since the night he was placed undercover. Now he was being seduced by the last person in the world he thought he wanted to be touched by and he couldn't do anything about it. His face was hot and flushed and his chest was heavy with so much shame he could barely breathe. His body was fully appreciating what Shawn was doing to him but his mind screamed in protest over and over. Lassiter raked a hand through the psychic's hair as he unwillingly threw his head back in pleasure. "Dammit, Spencer…please."

The pleas to stop were heard, but were ignored by the psychic who seemed determined to continue what he was doing. He continued his movements, even going faster as he continued to work Lassiter with his mouth, while stroking with one hand and caressing the detective's thigh with the other. He could feel Lassiter's body twitching and trembling underneath him and even through the verbal protests, Carlton had made no conscious effort to stop him so far.

Lassiter could feel a shudder surge though his entire body as every one of his muscles began to constrict. "S-stop… you have to stop now…" He demanded in a quivering voice.

Again, Shawn chose to ignore the older man's pleas. He knew Lassiter was going to be angry later, but for some reason he couldn't stop. Something inside him incited him to continue and he knew they both wanted this.

But the psychic didn't expect Lassiter to pull on his hair so forcibly that he had no other choice but to release the detective. He didn't anticipate to be shoved so hard that he landed on the floor with such a violent thud. Shawn groaned aloud as he lay on the floor in pain. The familiar white hot light covering his body and his vision. He lay still for several moments waiting for the light to fade so he could catch his breath. Holding his side he turned around to see Lassiter still sitting on the couch. But he was turned around in an awkward manner and hunched over, his back facing the psychic.

Shawn struggled to get onto his feet. "Lass…" The older man didn't respond and Shawn wasn't sure how close he should get, he had pushed his boundaries far enough. "I…"

"Are you okay…?" Lassiter cut him off suddenly, his voice rather calm.

Shawn rubbed his side and nodded to himself. "Yeah, it's alright…"

Lassiter spoke softly, still facing away from Shawn. "A towel…"

"What?" Shawn said with confusion, taking a step closer to the couch.

"You made me come." Lassiter exclaimed, his statement clearly marked with frustration. His face was burning. "Can you get me something?"

"Oh." Shawn jumped and turned to go into the bathroom that was in his room. Moments later he returned with a damp blue washcloth and held it out for Lassiter to reach for without getting to close to the detective. Shawn turned away to give Carlton time to clean himself. "You can have my room, there's only one bathroom. You can take a shower and sleep there." When Shawn didn't get an immediate response he turned around. He was surprised to find Lassiter standing only a foot behind him. His button shirt hung open as he glared down at the psychic. This was the face that Shawn was accustom too seeing day after day when he came into the Santa Barbara Police Department uninvited and made his seat upon the head detective's desk. Shawn couldn't help but be stunned at the vision of the man before him. He looked so strong and so weak at the same time; something only someone named Carlton Lassiter was capable of. For some reason as he looked up to the older man he felt so guilty. "I didn't mean to upset you… I'm sorry if I did."

"Let's not talk about what happened… I'm stuck here and I don't want this hanging over my head." Lassiter walked sternly passed the psychic towards the bedroom. "Let me know if you need anything…"

As soon as the bedroom door shut, Shawn fell to his knees. _This isn't what I wanted. I didn't want to make him feel trapped. _Shawn heaved a heavy sigh, but noticed the blue washcloth that found its way to the floor.

_"You made me come. Can you get me something?"_

As Shawn reached to pick up the damp cloth, he felt a swell of pride and accomplishment. He rubbed his fingers against the blue fabric as he looked up towards the closed bedroom door.


	6. Black Words

**Author's Note: This chapter gives a lot of information. I'm not thrilled with this chapter either but I tried my best on it. ****It took me forever to decide to summit it. But here it is!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Psych, but if I did, it would probably be filled with so much Shawn and Lassie smut that the world would put me to death. So I think its better that I don't own it.**

**Black Words**

No noises emitted from his room since he heard the running water from the shower. Shawn hadn't moved far from the couch at all, aside from pacing around nervously in circles of the coffee tables perimeter, trying to calm his excitement he experienced with Lassiter. He'd taken a seat on the warm plush cushion Carlton had previously occupied. Shawn was beside himself, clearly fuming over his hurried actions. He had flipped on the television to force his mind to focus on something other than the stern Irishman residing in his bedroom and turned it to his favorite news channel. But the thinking about the detective couldn't escape Shawn. There he saw Carlton's image on the television with the tag shown in big bold black words 'Gunned Down Detective'. They were showing Lassiter in a previously recorded video. In the video the head detective was escorting a suspect to the courthouse, someone Shawn had recognized from the smuggling case that was closed a month ago. A case Lassiter opened and closed before Shawn even got a chance to look at the case file. His eyes wandered backed to his closed bedroom door, but glanced back at the television when the anchor woman began speaking.

"The head detective of the Santa Barbara Police Department has been shot and hospitalized after an allege police undercover operation. Neither the hospital nor the SBPD will disclose on the status of this recognized officer of law enforcement. The shooter's identity is being strongly preserved by the police, but the department wants the public to know that the suspect was apprehended last night within twenty-four hours of the shooting. The Head Chairman of Police will be at the Santa Barbara Police Station later this afternoon to make a statement on the case. More on this story as it comes to us…"

With that Shawn clicked off the television with the remote and tossed it onto the coffee table. He moved to a laying position on the couch. He was spent, bored and found his mind turning cloudy again like it had when he woken up in the hospital. He went over several ideas about how he could fix the situation where there wouldn't be any awkward air between the two of them. But the only reasonable and safe idea was to just let Lassiter be. _He just needs some time to cool off.__ Besides, he still has his gun. Getting shot once is enough for me. _He sighed and rubbed his aching side.

Shawn looked to the clock and realized it was almost noon. He was amazed he stayed awake this long. He yawned, sprawling his arms above his head. He figured that Lassiter was already sound asleep in his bed right about now and thought maybe he should do the same. After all, he really had nothing else to do. He closed his eyes to relax and quickly fell to sleep, but Shawn was sure he had only settled for twenty minutes before he was startled awake with the slamming of a door.

"That's it, I'm leaving!" Lassiter hollered as he walked across the small living room.

Shawn got up off the couch as fast as he could without hurting himself, his heart racing and his head felt light. "What's wrong?" Shawn asked as he reached out to the older man.

Carlton yanked his arm away as soon as Shawn had grabbed it, the psychic backed away stunned. "Shut up! I go out of my way to help you and you make me into a fool. I don't have time to be babysitting you; I have a job to do!" He yelled as he swung the front door open.

"I didn't mean it like that." Shawn stumbled after the older man, trying his best to keep up as Lassiter marched down the hall of the apartment complex. "Y-you can't leave!" Shawn exclaimed, his voice on the edge of showing fright and desperation. "You can't go back, you're already in trouble."

"Because of you!" Lassiter spun around rapidly, thrusting his hand into the smaller man's chest with brutal strength. Shawn collapsed with a sickening thud, knocking his head on the hard stone floor. "My job is my life, Spencer. I'm nothing without it! I'd rather be dead then live without the badge. Just leave me the hell alone!"

"I-I know." Shawn pleaded with what little breath he could muster into his lungs after having the wind knocked out of him. He tried his best to stand, but his legs failed him. "I'm sorry. I really am."

Both men looked up when they heard a door click open, and saw a woman peeking out from behind it. She quickly closed it, after glancing at the glaring Lassiter in his unkempt status. He turned around and walked out of the building without giving Shawn a second thought.

"Wait, don't leave. Lassie!" It took a while for Shawn to gain enough strength to stand, his mind was screaming at him to hurry, to catch up with the detective. He staggered out of the building, tripping over the door grip and reeling over the front steps. Grabbing his side, he stood up; his knees and legs sore with a twinge. The street was deserted, and Lassiter was nowhere in sight. Shawn looked around franticly, rushing his hands through his hair. _I have to stop him. _

The next thing he knew he was on his bike and heading to the one place he knew Lassiter couldn't stay away from. He was somewhere on the way to police department when his cell buzzed in his pocket. He fumbled for his phone at a stop sign. It was Juliet.

"Jules!"

"Shawn! What's wrong with Carlton? Gus said he decided to stay with you."

"I-I…" Shawn was at a loss of words, he didn't know how to explain why Lassiter was so angry. _Yeah__ Juliet, about that. I just gave Lassie a__n incredible blow__job and now he's questioning is sexuality. Simple. Nothing to get upset about._

"He rampaged into the precinct. There was press all over the place and the cover was blown. The departments in trouble, the head chairman was already here to make a statement to the press."

"The head chairman?" Shawn shook his head in confusion.

"They're going to take his badge, Shawn… He left here pretty upset."

"He didn't do anything wrong!"

"He was given strict orders to stay away. The reputation of the department is on the line. You don't understand how important this case was."

"This is insane! He's a good cop!

"Yes, Chief…? What? That can't be…"

"What is it, Jules? Where's Lassiter, do you know where is he?" Shawn questioned into the phone, trying to hold back his panic.

"Shawn. I gotta go. We just got a call."

He felt his heart drop. He had a bad feeling about something. "It's Lassiter isn't it, Jules. Jules!?

She stuttered her words over the phone. "A reporter called, th-there was a single shot fired from inside the house. The address, the address is Carlton's. Shawn, I have to go."

The connection went dead. His phone met asphalt and he was already halfway down the street.

There were four cruisers sitting outside by the time that Shawn had arrived. Most of the officers were outside, creating a human barricade to keep the media out. He dropped his bike and it fell, clanking and scraping against the pavement of the driveway.

McNab, noticing the psychic, rushed up to him. He spread his arms as Shawn tried to run past him. "Shawn, you can't be here."

_There's no ambulance. N__o ambulance. He's okay, he's gotta be okay. He just got angry. He loves to shoot things when he's angry._

Shawn looked up to the tall officer; his face was pale and timid.

"Mr. Spencer! A word?"

Shawn turned around seeing cameras, microphones and other recording devices surrounding him.

"Mr. Spencer, did a vision draw you here?"

"You work with Detective Lassiter at the SBPD. Can you tell us anything about the current situation?"

Buzz stepped between Shawn and frenzy, holding firmly on to Shawn's arm. "Mr. Spencer is under police authority, he is not authorized to answer any of your questions at this time."

"Mr. Spencer, gun shots were heard in the house, is it true that Detective Lassiter may have committed suicide?"

"What…?" Shawn asked as he gaped at the balding reporter.

"No more questions!" Buzz yelled at the crowd in an almost angry tone.

Everything that happened after that was a blur. Shawn somehow got free of the younger officer's grasp and was charging up onto the porch. He heard other officers yelling after him, telling him to stop, but he didn't listen, he didn't care. He thrust himself through the front door, immediately coming face to face with Chief Vick and Detective O'Hara.

"Restrain him!" The Chief bellowed, her face unusually red, as two male officers pinned him to a wall and Shawn yelled in pain as he felt the cool metal of the cuffs surround his wrists. He started to panic.

"Where is he?! Is he okay?!" Shawn's vision started to blur and he smelt the faint scent of coffee in the house, his lightheadedness still hadn't passed. He yelled out again as he felt something blunt press against his head where he'd hit it when he fell. He heard Juliet gasp and begged the Chief to make them stop in a heart wrenching voice; Shawn could swear she was crying.

Shawn struggled to get free. He thrust his entire body weight into one of the officers landing them both a spot on the maple wood floor. There he could see through the door way to the living room. Everything around him seemed to stop as he saw Carlton Lassiter lumped in a bloody heap on the floor, his jet black pistol only inches from his hand.

"N-no!"

Shawn's eyes jolted open and he fought to sit up gasping for air, his stomach burning with pain. The room he recognized as his messy living room felt like an inferno, but his body shivered as if icy blood was flowing through him. He was caught by firm hands that forced him to place his head back down. He looked up finding a familiar peace in blue eyes. 

"Calm down. Breathe." Carlton said as he looked down at the fake psychic, his mind filled with worry at the younger man's wide eyes, obviously showing fear.

Shawn gazed up at the detective, his heavy chest heaving up in down in short, shallow pants as the older man's hands patted softly around his face. His eyes singed and he could feel them tearing. _A dream…__ It felt so real. _

"Spencer, you're burning up… You got a fever, probably from an infection. Hold on." Lassiter walked out of Shawn sight. Shawn heard Lassiter rummaging through the kitchen and water running from the sink. When the detective came back into Shawn's view he was carrying a large bowl that set on the coffee table next to the table. Shawn noticed it was filled with ice and water. Lassiter dipped a grey and white striped cloth into the bowl that Shawn identified as the dish towel he kept in the kitchen.

Shawn took a deep breath, feeling rather weak as Lassiter placed the icy cloth on his forehead. Its coolness felt refreshing against his hot flesh. Lassiter used his thumb wiped away the wetness from Shawn's cheeks that had come from his eyes. "Does it hurt that bad…? You've taken your medicine, right?" Lassiter asked at he set on the edge of the table by the couch and faced the psychic.

Shawn didn't respond, he was still looking up to the detective with weary eyes. Lassiter raised a brow to the younger man as he looked down at him. "Okay… Well, I was making some coffee. You want some?"

"Coffee…?" Suddenly Shawn could smell it all over again, the scent of coffee from his dream.

"Yeah. Just started a fresh pot. It should be done 'bout now. I'll pour you a cup."

"What time is it?" Shawn asked loud enough so Lassiter could hear him in the kitchen, after looking at his watch, noticing it was missing. He was sure he had it on the night he got shot.

"Twenty after eight." Carlton called from the kitchen. When the detective returned he held the mug out for Shawn. The psychic sat up to lean his back against the arm rest, the icy cloth slipped from his head and Lassiter motioned for him to put it around his neck, which he complied. Shawn established mentally it was much more comfortable there.

"Did you sleep?" The psychic asked as he took the mug of coffee he was offered and said thanks.

"A little." He replied, sitting back down on the table with his own mug.

Shawn nodded with him in acknowledgement "I thought you'd be gone for the rest of the night."

Lassiter nodded his head slowly in agreement, thinking about Shawn's comment. "I thought so too, but I'm use too getting as little sleep as possible. Beside, you woke me up."

Shawn sputtered while swallowing a mouthful of coffee. "Me?"

"You were having a fit on the couch, I thought maybe you had hurt yourself, but when I went to check on you I saw that you were sleeping. You had your arm pinned under your head. I moved it 'cause I figured it was hurting your contusion." Lassiter explained, rubbing his hand on the back of his own head. "Then, I went to go make the coffee but you startled me when you woke up with a yell. I nearly dropped the pot. What happened? Did you roll over on your wound?" Carlton teased with a smile, carefully taking a sip of his beverage.

"I was having a dream…" Shawn said, his voice sounding exhausted and stressed. He rubbed the back of his head. The large knot was there along with what Shawn thought were abrasions, it was still tender to the touch.

"A dream?"

"Yes. A stupid, stupid, long dream that was stupid." Shawn fussed as he swung his legs off the couch in frustration.

"Oh…? What was it about?"

"Nothing…"

"That does sound like a stupid dream, I'm guessing you're the type to have a lot of 'nothing' dreams." Lassiter mocked. "Seriously." He asked, looking dreary at the other man.

Shawn was quiet. He fiddled with the handle of his mug for several moments, twisting and wrapping his fingers around it over and over. Somewhere along the way he didn't want the beverage any long and set it on the table. "Can I ask you a question?"

Carlton shrugged. "Do I really have a choice?"

"Nope. Not really." Shawn stated matter-of-factly, smacking his lips.

"Ask." Lassiter said with a sigh. Setting his mug down next to Shawn's and rubbing his palms together.

"What would you do if you couldn't be a cop?"

Lassiter tilted his head at Shawn, clearly confused and not expecting such a question. He eyed the psychic suspiciously. "What are you getting at, Spencer?"

"What would you do? If you couldn't go back." Shawn asked again, more quietly. He was sweating now.

"I…" Lassiter started, shifting nervously. "I've never thought about it to that extent. I can't really imagine not being a cop. It's not even logical to think about that. I do my job well, Spencer. I know I'm not perfect, you've made that painfully clear, but I do what I can. They won't let me go. Eleven years as Head Detective might not mean much to you but I'd like to imagine that my devotion means something to the force."

Shawn hung his head in frustration. As much as he liked to listen to Lassiter's confidence, especially after that dream, he still didn't have a clear answer.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Lassiter asked, reaching for the dishtowel around Shawn's neck to soak it back into the ice water.

The psychic nodded, rubbing a hand on his damp neck. He didn't feel uncomfortable anymore but his wound still throbbed. "You were on the news earlier. I'm not entirely sure but I thought they might have said something about your conditioning worsening at the hospital."

Lassiter sighed, wringing the cloth and taking a seat on the couch next to Shawn, replacing the cloth on the younger man's neck. After drying his hands on his jeans, he reached for the remote on the table and turned the television on. "I really do hate this. It's like lying to society."

Shawn had to stifle a laugh at this. "Oh, yeah. You don't want to do that."

Carlton tilted his head to the side as he watched a replay of the Chairman's address to the press that they had missed from that afternoon. The detective shook his head. "Chairman Gregory Keller. The most narrow-minded son of a bitch if I've ever seen one. The Board doesn't know anything about what it is to be on those streets day after day. All it ever will be is a bunch of politics to them."

Shawn watched the television alongside the detective. Chairman Keller was a tall man that seemed to be in mid-fifties. His hair was somewhat long and combed back with different shades of silver and black roots. "Wow, he has a lot of hair for an old dude and he's got to know that dye job isn't fooling anyone." Shawn said with a giggle before Lassiter slapped his knee to shush him and pointed to the television, indicating for Shawn to shut up and listen.

On the television there were several people surrounding the wooden podium that was set outside the police station, it was finely decorated with an emblem Shawn recognized, but had no idea what it symbolized. Shawn could clearly see Chief Vick and Detective Henzy standing behind the Head Chairman, though there was no sign of Juliet. The chairman's microphone kicked on and he began to speak. "Because of Detective Lassiter's brave endeavor, the case in which the Santa Barbara Police Department has been investigating has been propelled forward, creating a number of leads. I am sorry to inform that no information can be released at this time. We have witnesses to protect and disclosing such information could hinder additional police investigation."

"He knows..." Lassiter said in a very low voice. Shawn looked up to him, swallowing a mouth full of air.

"That bad?"

"No, but I bet the entire department is walking on egg shells. We can't jeopardize this case again."

"Who are the witnesses?"

"Who else? You and Coen."

Shawn shook his head. "Wait, I thought Coen is the guy we were after. You know, the perp, the crazy guy that shot me. Come on, Lassie, did you forget already?"

"No I haven't forgotten, but he's just a front man, Spencer. We were after Coen because he was out in the open. We needed more names, something concrete. All we ever had were aliases and dead ends. It's been a wild goose chase until we found River and if he doesn't crack we'll be back to square one."

"What has this been about anyway? You only let me look at the case file for one minute and twenty-two seconds."

"Hey, that was the deal." Lassiter said in a very stern voice, jabbing the television remote at the younger man before setting it on the table. "A minute with the case file if you could get that delinquent to confess to the burglary of the bakery. You even got extra time to look at it because McNab distracted me with one of those pointless questions he always seems to ask."

"Who burglarizes a bakery anyway?" Shawn's voice was covered in annoyance. "You could have cracked that kid yourself, you only dumped that case on me 'cause you knew it was just as stupid as I thought it was. He only got away with thirty dollars worth of donuts and apple turnovers. They weren't even freshly baked; they were leftover from the day before and probably just going to get thrown away in the morning."

Lassiter laughed, crossing his arms and looking over at Shawn with a smile on his face. "Yeah, I know."

Shawn was not as amused. He glared at the detective crossing his own arms. "Are you going to tell me what's going on with this case or laugh at your own mischievousness?"

"Fine, fine. I tell you because I feel bad about you getting shot."

"Gee, thanks, Detective Lassiter. I'm so flattered." Shawn stated sarcastically.

"Fraud." Lassiter said bluntly, poking a finger at Shawn's chest.

"Fraud?" Shawn was silent for a moment before gaping at the detective. "I got shot over fraud? I didn't get shot over something spectacular like drug smuggling or murder or underground chicken fights?"

"Spencer, do you know over fifty billion dollars disappears every year in the United States due to identity theft alone." He said with irritation in his voice.

"Identity theft isn't spectacular, Lassie. You wouldn't be happy if you got shot over fraud."

"That's all it was until the murder from a few weeks ago."

"Ahah! So there was a murder. Was it Coen?" Shawn said with some excitement in his voice. He repositioned himself on the couch to face Lassiter.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't. He has an alibi; we have four well respected business men all saying his was in the board meeting at his day job. But we're positive Coen knows who the assailant is."

"Tell me about the dude that was murdered."

"There's not too much to tell. Xavier Haines. Young kid. Probably a couple of years younger than you. We found out that he had one of the aliases we discovered from the investigation. Incriminating emails all over his computer. Everything else was pretty much a dead end; nothing was traceable, just more aliases. Computer Crimes are still trying to decipher some cryptic information located on the hard drive. We checked him out, turns out he was a top programmer for an elite software company, a few of his friends even let on that he had a hush-hush hacking job on the side. We would have had our work cut out for us if we had found him before his killer did."

"Sooooo, you don't know what happened?"

"At first we just thought two people on the inside had a falling out turned deadly, but now…" Carlton patted a hand on Shawn's shoulder. "We also got an attempted murder on our hands. People willing to kill not to get caught. There's something more going on, something we didn't anticipate before."

"What if it's somebody getting greedy?"

Lassiter nodded his head slowly, looking blankly at the television. "Money is always a good motive. But I have a feeling that something else is going on."

Shawn had his eyes on Lassiter. He agreed. Something else besides boring ol' fraud was going on. "What what are we going to do?"

"What?" The detective blinked away from the television to look at the younger man.

"You know. The investigation. What are we going to investigate?"

Lassiter chuckled, a small forced smile growing on his face as the detective shifted uncomfortably. "Very funny, Spencer."

Shawn gave a coy grin and playfully slapped Lassiter on the arm. "Lassie, you give me too much credit. I wasn't joking."

The smile on the detective's face was gone. "Spencer. What part of 'we cannot jeopardize this case again' didn't you understand?"

"The part where I was supposed to understand that part it in the first place?" Shawn questioned, dragging the damp cloth off his neck.

Lassiter groaned, placing his hands over his face. Shawn waited for him to say anything but detective seemed intent on not saying anything more.

"Oh come on, Lassie. I know you're cookin' something up. I can smell it and it hasn't burned yet."

Still Lassiter did not answer. He was looking over his hands staring at the television, obviously trying to drown the psychic out.

"You're not fooling me, Lassie. I know you can't stay away and you're way too calm after getting dragged off the case. I sense you have plans and I want in on them."

"Alright!" Lassiter said aloud, slapping his hands on his knees, causing Shawn to jump back. He sighed at the fact he can never hide anything from the psychic. "After you left for the store, I called O'Hara from the payphone on the corner. I arranged a rendezvous for tonight. She's going to inform me of today's findings."

"Yay, Jules!" Shawn cried out, throwing his hands up in the air. This was a mistake. Shawn grabbed his side and nearly toppled off the couch.

Lassiter caught the younger man before he hit ground, dragging him back onto the couch. "When's the last time you took your medicine?"

The psychic just looked up him, red-faced, out of breath, with a naïve smile displayed on his face. Lassiter shook his head, walking towards the kitchen and returning a moment later.

He threw the prescription bags into Shawn's lap. "You haven't even opened the damn things, Spencer."

Shawn said thanks and tore open the paper bags, dumping the transparent orange colored bottles on the table. "So what time are we meeting, Jules?"

Lassiter slammed a glass of water down on the table, and glared at Shawn. "We?"

Shawn tried to look genuinely confused. "Oh, silly Lassie. You weren't really thinking about leaving me here all by my lonesome. I might get into something I shouldn't, like the chemical cabinet under the kitchen sink or chew on those shiny black electrical cords behind the television. I love those things."

The detective sighed, observing the younger man as he popped the white safety tops off the prescription bottles, combining the dosages he needed to take from both and downing them. Shawn looked back up to him after taking a swig of some more water, another one of those clueless smiles covering his face. Lassiter shook his head, glancing away from Shawn and to the television. They were talking about him again. 'Dead or Alive' was scrolling on top of the television in black letters over the white back drop. He took his seat back at his spot on the couch, clicking off the television. "Get ready and get your keys, we're late already."

Carlton hadn't finished his sentence before Shawn forced himself off the couch and stumbled into his bedroom in a hurry.

* * *

**Okay, I'm sorry about the dream scene. I had a bit of fun with it though. Anyways, please review.**


	7. Pale Love

**I want to apologize for my long absent. I was looking through my email. (which I rarely check anymore.) and I noticed people were still writing comments on my stories. I felt sad for everyone who wanted an update and kicking myself for not focusing more on writing and finishing my story. So after rereading comments people have said about my stories I got inspired to write. This chapter wasn't easy to write after so much time not writing and I got into a tight spot trying to figure out how to write the last part. I don't think I'm very good at writing **_**those types of scenes**_**.**

**Pale Love**

The night was moist and cool, just like the hectic night of the shooting. It was a nice change of temperature for Carlton Lassiter. The apartment of the psychic had turned warm, sticky and very uncomfortable. The detective watched the younger man straddle the bike first before getting on behind. He sat and waited as Shawn continued to shift around on the seat.

"Sit still!" Lassiter growled through gritted teeth as the psychic suddenly slammed back against him.

Shawn made a high pitched whining noise before pouting."But Carly! It hurts! I can't get comfortable."

"Do you want me to drive?"

"Nope." Shawn admitted, almost childlike and suddenly stopped bouncing around on his seat and shifted one final time. He started up the bike.

"Then stop complaining and go. The faster we get this information the sooner we can come back and go to sleep."

"Oh?" Shawn grinned to himself as he placed on his helmet.

"Take the next left up here and slow down." Carlton commanded and pointed incase Shawn couldn't hear him over the motor of the bike.

Shawn did as he was told and began to slow down at the approached the beach strip. They were by the shore and could clearly hear the waves of the beach through the still of the night. In the distance he could see a familiar person standing under a streetlamp on the sidewalk. He rolled to a stop and killed the motor. Lassiter immediately got off before Shawn and walked up to the lady in disguise.

"You're late."

Juliet was wearing a long grey coat. Her hair was bundle under a red baseball cap and she donned large round sunglasses.

"Sorry Jules, that's my fault." Shawn stated as he took off his helmet and got off the bike. "May I add, by the way, I almost didn't recognize you. Totally incognito. Tell me, are the sunglasses helping you on this cloudy night?"

Lassiter sighed rubbing his forehead. "Ignore him."

The junior detective slid the glasses down till they were on the tip of her nose and looked up to her superior. "Thought you said you would come alone."

"That one is Lassie's fault. He dragged me here kicking and screaming. I kept telling him that I was in too much pain, but he didn't listen."

"Spencer, you were almost begging…"

"Okay!" Juliet cut them off. "Sorry I asked. Anyway, here. I brought some stuff from your locker. I practically cleaned it out since I knew you couldn't go back to your house to get any of your things." Lassiter took the backpack as Juliet offered it to him.

"Thanks." He slung the pack onto his shoulder. Lassiter already knew what the backpack contained. His police issued sweats, Three extra dress shirts just in case, his spare sidearm and ammunition for the shooting range, an envelope with a low quantity of money, a pair of tennis shoes for the gym , extra pair of black slacks and two extra ties also just in case. Lassiter never really had much luck with his ties.

Juliet handed Lassiter a file. "Here I made copies of the report for you and… um…" O'Hara started, unsure of her actions as she looked guilty up to Lassiter.

"Me?" Shawn inserted with a playful grin reaching out and grabbing his copy of the file.

"O'Hara!"

"Oh come on, Carlton. You're staying with him and he might as well help us out. Besides, I felt bad… and I knew this would make him happy if he could help. I'm glad you brought him so I could give it to him."

Lassiter looked over at Shawn, and he did seem happy as he sat on the bench and began to read the case file and flip through the papers. The detective ruffled his already messy hair before turning back to his junior detective. "What do we have?"

"Okay here's the autopsy information that was released while you were still undercover." She said confidently as she pointed out the page to him and slid her glasses onto the top of her head. "The victim, Haines, died from internal hemorrhaging due to blunt force trauma to the abdomen and the head."

"So he really was beaten to death…" Lassiter said with a sigh.

"Yeah, it looks like it. He bled out while he was unconscious, though. The coroner doesn't think he suffered." Juliet spoke with a very timid voice. Lassiter finally got a chance to look at her while she flipped through the file. The light of the lamp was dim, but he could easily see the exhaustion buried in her face.

"Did Coen give us anything?" Lassiter asked, taking a seat next to the psychic and looked through the file himself.

"He's slowly releasing details of the operations but no names. He hasn't said a damn word about the murder and he even insists that he's never seen or heard anything about Haines."

"He's got to know something."

"I sure he knows more than he's letting on, but I personally think he really isn't connected to the murder."

"What do you mean?" Shawn piped up all of a sudden.

"I think he might have known that something was going to happen and made sure he was out of the way when it did."

"Either way, if he doesn't open up we'll be at a loss."

"I know. Give me another day or two and I should have something more concrete."

"Alright, let's hope for a change. We should go though. Before we're seen. Karen will ripe you a new one if she catches us. I'll be in touch."

Everyone said their goodbyes. Juliet offered a "get well soon" to Shawn, which he accepted gleefully before giving thanks for the file. Before they left the apartment Lassiter noticed Shawn had been in an odd mood he couldn't place, but now the psychic's spirits had seemed to be lifted. It wasn't long before they were back at Shawn's small apartment building and Shawn was bouncing up and down on the couch with the case file.

"Lassie, this is so cool, dontcha think?"

Lassiter was rummaging around the kitchen to find some sort of nourishment but settled for a cold beer in the fridge before returning to the living room. He glared at the hyperactive psychic. "What are you talking about, Spencer?"

"You and I working side by side, against the good guys and the bad guys to put the evil villain behind bars."

"You're getting ahead of yourself." He popped the metallic cap off the beverage before taking a swig. "And we aren't working together. You're trying to butt your way into my case and may I remind you, that's the reason you have that hole in your side in the first place."

Shawn sighed before slapping the folder on the coffee table. "There you go. Raining on my parade again."

The detective grinned at him. "I have to, it's my favorite past time after all."

"And may I remind you, my dearest detective, that this is no longer your case."

Lassiter just glowered at the younger man before plopping himself on the sofa next to Shawn.

"Give it up, Lassie. We're partners now."

"Fine, _partner._ Did you get any psychic nonsense off the case file yet or do I have to wait to purchase a front row seat for a convulsion and one of your visions."

Suddenly Shawn flung the case folder behind him and it spiraled until it hit the floor. Lassiter looked at him in bewilderment. "What did you do that for? Oh God, are the convulsions starting?"

Shawn looked calmly at the detective. "Let's talk."

Lassiter took another swig of his beverage and shook his head. "If you lose that file you aren't getting mine." He reached out to grab the TV remote only to have it punted out of his hand by Shawn's foot. Lassiter watched it land somewhere behind the couch along with the case file. "What the hell, Spencer?"

"You heard me so don't act like you didn't. Let's talk."

"If it's not about the case I don't want to hear about it."

"Why are you being like this?"

"Like what?"

"Cold and shit." Shawn was clearly losing his patience with the detective.

"You may have noticed before but this is how I always am."

"But at the hospital you were worried and dare I say, even caring. It's an unruly change in weather."

With a thud, Lassiter placed his beer on the coffee table. He shot an angry glare towards the psychic.

Shawn returned the glare. "You're mad."

"Oh? You noticed?" Lassiter replied with a smirk.

"Because of this morning when I very thoroughly pleased yo--."

"Shut up!"

"You are!"

Lassiter slammed his fist on the table. "It's not about that!" Shawn nearly jumped off the couch in fright as the beer was knocked over by the tremor.

Lassiter held his hands out over the coffee table as if he didn't know what to do with them. "I'm sorry. I'll clean it up."

He strode quickly into the bathroom and grabbed the nearest towel off the rack before making his way back to his mess on the coffee table. He began to wipe the beer away, his hands getting soaked as well. Lassiter hadn't finished cleaning before Shawn grabbed him by his arms and started pulling him back on the couch.

"Stop." Shawn commanded looking at blue eyes.

"The beer."

"I don't care." Shawn kept pulling Lassiter on top of him. He put his arms around Lassiter's neck and pulled himself up to meet the detective's lips. Lassiter responded almost immediately, kissing Shawn more forcibly then he had done before. Shawn gasped in surprise as Lassiter's hands found their way under his shirt. Cold, wet fingers trembled against skin while Lassiter fumbled franticly at Shawn chest, not breaking the hated kiss.

Shawn's hands glided over the detective's stubbly cheeks not sure the man in his arms now was really Detective Carlton Lassiter. His breath caught his throat and his heart skipped as he thought about it. The man that gave him shit every time he stepped within a twenty foot radius of him was kissing and touching him so sensually with all of his shields down. Shawn's heart was nearly racing out of his chest as he began to undo the buttons of Carlton's cotton shirt. It didn't make sense, but Shawn didn't care. He wanted more. They broke the kiss for a moment as Shawn shrugged down the detective's shirt. Carlton looked at him a moment, his hands finding a place on Shawn's waist then darted his eyes down away. When Lassiter didn't immediately do it, Shawn pulled his own shirt off in haste, ignoring the dull pain at his side and the large Gauze bandage covering his wound. When Shawn finally tossed his shirt away he noticed that Lassiter's movements stopped completely and the detective seemed to be frozen.

"Lassie?" Shawn shifted around trying to regain eye contact with him. When the detective didn't acknowledge him, Shawn squeezed his forearm in a very comforting way. "Hey…"

"This isn't supposed to happen." Lassiter said weakly.

Shawn thought for a moment before shrugging himself downward to look at Lassiter. The detective reluctantly met eyes with the psychic. "You know, Lassie; if it wasn't supposed to happen. It would never have started, but look! We're halfway there!"

"No we aren't. We're done." Lassiter said firmly as he slid away from Shawn and off the couch.

"What?"

"Go to your room and I'll take the couch…we're done…" Lassiter said quietly as he hung his head, waiting for Shawn to get off the couch. But Shawn didn't move and showed no sign of getting off the couch anytime soon. He just sat like a lifeless marionette looking towards his lap.

"Spencer…" Lassiter sighed and raised his head to look at the psychic. "I don't want to argue about this. Go to your room and get some sleep…"

"No." Shawn said it immediately after Lassiter finished his statement. He continued to sit there without moving. "You're my guest, Lassiter. The couch is mine, so take your lame ass to the bedroom."

Lassiter shifted his body to shake off the 'lame ass' comment. "I can't do that. You're recovering."

"I don't want to argue about this. Go to your room and get some sleep." Shawn mocked.

The detective bit his lip in annoyance and to restrain himself from biting back at his present roommate. He snatched up his cotton shirt from the floor by the couch and marched into the bedroom. He tried to avoid slamming the bedroom door as best as he could but wasn't very successful. Shawn was already off the couch before Lassiter had shut the door behind him. He kneeled down at the coffee table and finished cleaning off the table. The room was already filled with the smell of beer which only reminded Shawn how Lassiter's hands and breath smelled just minutes before. And he was pulled back into remembering Lassiter's hands roaming freely on his bare chest. _I'm pushing myself on him and it's not helping my situation, but… I can't stop wanting to do it. _Even now, all Shawn wanted to do was stride into the bedroom and do it again. Shawn eventually decided against it, removing his jeans and settling himself down on the couch in his boxers. He wasn't tired but he pulled the blanket off the couch and covered himself with it. He was about to lay his head down when he heard a click. He lifted up his head to see Lassiter leaning against the doorframe of the bedroom. His arms were crossed against his bare chest and he looked calm as he gazed at the psychic. He didn't say anything but Shawn knew what he wanted, so he got up off the couch and walked over to him.

"We'll share the bed."

Shawn didn't argue and only followed Lassiter back into the bedroom. Lassiter claimed the side of the bed that was closest to the door so Shawn claimed the other side.

Lassiter pulled the blanket over his shoulder and faced away from Shawn. "Is this better? No more bickering okay? It big enough for both of us. Get some sleep. We're going to start focusing on that case tomorrow so you need to feel well enough.

"You know, you should have just left me on the couch." He rolled Carlton over on his back and attempted to crawl on him. "Because I'm not very tired with you laying here next to me."

"Not this again…" Lassiter sat up and looked at him. "I told you we're done."

"Don't say that!" Shawn pleaded as he leaned toward Carlton with only a very short distant away from each other. He grasped Lassiter's arm and leaned in closer. "You said yes before and that's the only thing I want you to say now."

Shawn closed the gap between them and reached for what was his. Lassiter didn't fight it. He leaned after Shawn leaned. This kiss was different, it wasn't rough or heated. It was soft and tender. Their lips caressed lightly and Shawn began to smooth over Carlton's chest with his hand.

"Spencer…"

"No. No Spencers, only yes. Nothing else." Shawn stated intently. He changed his position to where he was straddling the detective. He said nothing else. He only laid his own body over the detective, waiting for an answer. Shawn didn't know what to do with his hands. Lassiter's shirt had already been removed so instead he kept his hands busy with the rim of Lassiter's jeans. Shawn undid the button to Lassiter's jeans and began to pull down the zipper. He slowly began sliding down the detective's jeans

Even though the detective shifted nervously with his hands clamping Shawn's wrists to pull him away at any moment, he didn't protest or shove the psychic. Lassiter breathed in sharply before he spoke. "What do you plan on doing anyway…?"

Shawn smirked. "Isn't it obvious?" Shawn kissed Carlton more roughly pulling his jeans down further. The detective still seemed rather tense. "I want to feel you, you know?

Lassiter shifted uncomfortably. "I don't understand what you mean…" he lied.

Shawn just made sure Lassiter was settled comfortably on his back before sliding the detective's tight fitting boxers down, exposing Lassiter. "Say yes and I can show you." Shawn gripped Lassiter's member gently , it was already warm and hard when he began to stroke it.

The detective's breath quickened and was followed with a gasp at the fake psychic's touch. "Spencer, I can't handle this. I don't know how…"

"I know. Relax and don't worry." Shawn claimed before wrapping his entire mouth around Lassiter's member. He began to suck at the head, coating it heavily with saliva. Little sounds began to escape the detective as Shawn ravaged him. Shawn wanted to take his own boxers off because they were tight fitting with his own erection, but Lassiter was gripping his wrists so firmly his hands were growing pale

"Ngh… Spencer…" He groaned gripping Shawn's wrists more firmly with trembling hands he was looking up at the ceiling, intentionally avoiding to look at the psychic.

"Lassie, I don't have everything we're gonna need so we just hafta make this work." The psychic said after lifting his head up. He pried lassiter's right hand off his left wrist. "I need you to help me out right here." Shawn said as he slid Lassiter's hand down his own side to his and near the crevasse of his ass. He left Lassiter's hand there as he pulled down his own boxers and removed them. As soon as Lassiter's hand touched Shawn's bare skin, he pulled it away in fright as if he just unknowingly touched a hot stove.

"I-I can't do that..." Lassiter nearly yelped with a cracking voice, finally looking at the psychic.

Shawn just gave a pout. "So after what I've been doing for you, you wont do anything for me in return? You were nice enough to let me into this bedroom so in return I'm going to let you in me."

Lassiter looked up to the ceiling still avoiding eye contact with psychic as he slid his hand slowly down Shawn's side. With a shiver Shawn received goose bumps from Lassiter's touch. Lassiter's fingers took their place at Shawn's entrance.

Shawn kissed Lassiter's ear and whispered. "Do it. It's okay." Lassiter was hesitating, nudging his finger against Shawn's entrance. The detective took in a long breath before shoving one finger in, probably more violently he should have, but fast enough so he wouldn't lose his nerve. Shawn let out a whelp that made Carlton tremble with guilt.

"I-I'm sorry…" But before he could remove what he had done Shawn clamped hard on Lassiter's wrist.

"No, D-don't take it out, it's fine, it's okay…" Shawn declared in short panted breaths. "Please just do it and don't stop."

Lassiter obliged and slowly, but surely, grinded his finger around in Shawn. For a while no one made any noises aside from shallow breaths and pants and Lassiter remained doing the same thing until Shawn finally spoke.

"More. Do more…"

Lassiter didn't want Shawn to know that he understood what he wanted him to do, but the detective's pride did not get the better of him this time as he willingly pushed another finger into Shawn. The only difference this time Lassiter had the courage to do it more gently as he thought not to hurt Shawn. The psychic released a breath he had been holding while he waited for Lassiter to comply with his request then sharply moaned. Lassiter continued to rock his hand around all the while spreading Shawn's entrance trying to go deeper. Lassiter wasn't one to experiment in this sort of situation, but by sheer accident pressed his fingers down to create some more pressure. Shawn let out a heart stopping moan and that's just what it did to Lassiter. For a moment Lassiter found himself without breath and for another moment he thought his heart had really stopped beating at Shawn's voice and the detective froze. "Spencer, don't make that sound again…"

"Lassie…" Shawn took in a ragged breath. "It's not fair for you to ask that. Just do what you just did again."

Lassiter obeyed. Crooking his fingers pushing them down, hitting the spot again and started repeating the motion.

Shawn buried his face in the curve of Lassiter's neck. He pressed his lips tightly together to retain any sounds as Lassiter had asked of him. "Mhmm…mhmm. Mhmm!

Lassiter wrapped his arm around the younger man's back and pulled him closer. But Shawn struggled to get free from his grasp.

"This isn't enough for me, plus I'm ready." Shawn suddenly panted out.

Again Lassiter found himself in another position about being embarrassed about knowing what Shawn meant. "R-ready? For what?" he lied.

Shawn was getting frustrated with Carlton's antic about 'playing dumb'. So he didn't reply, but just took everything upon himself. With one last suck to the head detective's hardened member to coat it with some wetness, Shawn positioned his entrance about Lassiter's member. He looked up to his new found lover only to see Lassiter quickly shut his eyes as hard as he could and look away. Shawn thought it best to do this quickly while he still straddled the tired detective. Shawn couldn't remember much because of the pain. Not only the pain as he made Lassiter enter him in such a rush but also the pain in his side as went down on him.

"My side…" Shawn squeaked weakly.

It didn't take long which probably surprised Shawn more than the fact he was making love to Carlton Lassiter. Lassiter had rolled them both over in an instant, making sure Shawn's back was comfortably lying on the pillow. It started out slow and kind of awkward. Lassiter had his hands placed on Shawn's waist and his head buried against the psychic's neck, as if not wanting to look at him. Despite Lassiter's chosen position he continued to rock into Shawn. The psychic was not disappointed, it was nice. It wasn't rough or lustful. Faintly they were making love and Shawn suddenly felt as if he had finally done something right for a change.

After every thrust Lassiter would pant hot breaths against Shawn's neck. Shawn was groaning with delight as he mussed with the detective's dark hair. With one tug of the hair he pulled Lassiter's head up. A disapproving grunt mixed with pleasure came from the mouth of the older man. Finally their eyes met and Shawn couldn't help but smile. "Lassie..."

Carlton leaned towards and kissed him. Shawn wrapped his arms around his lover and kissed him back desperately. Lassiter's lips where chapped and hot, and he was being stubborn but none of that mattered to Shawn as he was finally able to look into the detective's blue eyes. Lassiter placed his forehead against Shawn's own as he began to thrust harder and faster and he gripped Shawn's own erection that made him yelp with surprise.

"L-Lassie…!" Shawn moaned at the older man's firm grip as the detective began to stroke him. The temperature must have risen significantly as Shawn's whole body began to flush with heat. It didn't take much for Shawn to finally climax all over Lassiter's hand, some dripping and pooling on his abdomen. Through his teeth Lassiter groaned and a few strong thrusts later he pulled himself out of Shawn spilling himself on the psychic.

After they had quickly cleaned up, Shawn had curled up against Lassiter as they laid in the bed. He had his head on Lassiter's chest running his hand up and down the detectives torso. But for a while they didn't speak a word.

"I hate this. It isn't real. There's nothing here." Lassiter said coldly.

Shawn thought a moment about the cold statement, but he didn't see it as cold. It was a typical Carlton Lassiter statement. "It's here, and maybe it's hard to see but it's there." Shawn finally stated

"And what do you think is there, Spencer." Lassiter grunted with a smile looking at the ceiling.

"I don't know, maybe love." Shawn said still fiddling with Carlton's chest hair.

Carlton sighed. "No, Shawn. It's not love."He whispered.

"It's pale but against these ivory sheets, it's there and I can see it. It looks just like how we are laying here now. I feel it and if ever went away I know I would be sad. If it's not love then what else could it be?" The psychic question as he sat up and looked down at the older man.

Lassiter looked up at Shawn. "It's not love. If there is anything here that I can see it's just you. You are all I see." He reached up to Shawn and pulled him back down kissing him and he pulled the covers over both of them.

**YAY! Mushy and romantic. Awkward but still good to read, yes? Okay I want to thank everyone who had read and kept reading to this part. It's not over yet but I don't know how long it will take for me to get out another chapter, cause school keeps me so busy with all its funness. And just so everyone knows I don't get people to proof read my work so if there are mistakes, typos or confusion I'm sorry. After you re-read your story so often it is hard to find those certain mistakes. I might find some who can proof read for me.**


	8. Gray Jacket

**After a nearly nine month long hiatus, I am returning to this story. My apologies to everyone who had wanted an update sooner. Anyway, this chapter was very fun for me write, personally. I've finally added some much needed information in this chapter about the case at hand. The only thing bad I have to say about this chapter is that my grammar went out the window.**

**Warning: This is a Shassie fic. Don't like? Don't read.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Psych or its characters. **

**Gray Jacket**

Lassiter was standing outside in a familiar place. It was dark and cool and he was dressed in his suit and tie. He couldn't quite place where he was at, yet he was having the strangest feeling of déjà vu. He was in an empty narrow street. Suddenly someone stepped into the light of a street lamp.

"Spencer?" It was Shawn. The younger man was crouching over, like he was trying to camouflage himself to the white car next to him. "Spencer!" Lassiter yelled to him in a loud commanding whisper. "What the hell are you doing here? Get out of here! You're gonna get hurt!"

But the younger man didn't reply, he just continued to crouch down by the end of the car, staring down the street. Then he finally spoke. "They aren't here? I thought this was the spot. Where's Lassiter?"

"Spencer! I'm right here! Get outta here, please!" Lassiter pleaded in a low voice. He tried to step toward the psychic, but his legs were frozen. _I can't move…? What's happening? _Suddenly there was a loud click from down the street. Both Shawn and Lassiter's heads jerked to the noise to see a gate of a small building opened and a man in a dress shirt and slacks step out. The man gently closed the gate behind him before locking it and started to walk down the street. Lassiter heard Shawn's tennis shoes scrape against the concrete, Lassiter's heart stopped as both him and the man turned to look into Shawn's direction. Shawn froze. "Spencer! Run! Get away from here now. If you go down the alley behind you, you'll find O'Hara. Go now!"

Shawn did not hear Lassiter. He stayed crouched down staring ahead at the stranger, who took a couple of steps further. "Who's there?" the man called out.

"Spencer…please…" Lassiter tried with all his might to move forward. "Run…"

Lassiter's pleads continue to go unheard, and his heart dropped when Shawn stepped further into the light, his hands raised in a surrendering position. River Coen panicked, stumbling a few steps back and drawing a gun from the back of his slacks.

"Shawn!"

The gun shot rang out. Lassiter saw Shawn's head fling back violently in slow motion, red mist coming from the back of the psychic's skull. Shawn's body thudded back against the white car, smearing it with blood as he fell to the ground.

Lassiter shot up, gripping on the sheets of the bed. It didn't take Lassiter long to realize it was only a dream. _I remember what happened; I don't need to be reminded._ He heaved a heavy sigh, his eyes shifting slowly to the other side of the bed. Shawn was soundly asleep, sprawled out like a slumbering child, taking up more than his share of the bed. Lassiter placed the back of his hand on the younger man's forehead, it felt cool to the touch. _No fever, that's good. I should let him sleep a while longer._

Suddenly Lassiter felt cold himself. His face unknowingly turned red with embarrassment, remembering and seeing he was unclothed, still in bed with another man. He reached for the bedpost remembering Shawn's robe. He donned the short robe and rushed into the bathroom after gathering his jeans from the floor. He jumped into the shower and bathed quickly, trying not to think too much about what had happened last night. He put on his jeans after he got out and opened the door. Shawn had successfully stolen the entire sheet and was curled up nicely in ball. Lassiter then realized his empty stomach pain and found himself wandering to the kitchen, not watching the sleeping man very long.

_This will be over one day. Spencer will wake up, forget about this, forget about me, and move on. This won't last, so I don't have to worry._

Shawn awoke with his side burning. He tried to roll over from his stomach to his back, but the pain was too intense. He was only able to shift his head to look at the other side of his bed. Shawn was not surprised to find the other side empty. He wasn't worried though, he knew Lassiter wouldn't have left or at least that's what he hoped. He laid there for a few minutes as if the pain in his side caused him paralysis. But while he was laying there he focused hard on listening for any noises. Though it was not very successful due to the ringing in his ears, thus he realized his head was throbbing. It didn't take long for Shawn to comprehend that his pain medication must have worn off. Shawn was thankful that the medicine worked wonders last night to save him the pain in his backside. His whole body was sore now and he groaned into his pillow.

"Lassiter." Shawn called, but there was no response. He waited a minute before trying again, this time louder. "Lassie!"

Suddenly the door flung open. Lassiter stood there. He was dressed in the same pair of jeans he'd been wearing for two days, a black t-shirt that Shawn pegged as his and a gray jacket that was zipped up half way in the front, a garment that belonged to Shawn too. The detective looked at his watch. "You're up before noon? Seriously?"

Shawn muffled a groan in his pillow. "I hurt…" Shawn admitted weakly.

Lassiter stood there for a moment, embarrassed and with a worried look on his face. "Um…where?"

The younger man sighed but then laughed weakly. "I was shot Lassie, remember?"

"Oh!" Lassiter nodded quickly before running off to retrieve Shawn's medicine. Lassiter came back with water and medicine in hand. He set them both on the nightstand to help Shawn sit up and then handed them to him. Lassiter watched as Shawn took his medicine.

He threw the pills in his mouth, tilting his head back and swallowed them. Shawn took one extra pill then he was supposed to. He'd needed it, he thought. "Thanks Lassie." He said softly, still sitting in the bed for a moment, his head down, waiting for the pain to go away.

Lassiter knelt down next to the bed. "I'll make something for you to eat now that you're up. Come eat when you're ready." Shawn nodded and Lassiter continued to speak. His voice was calm. "I remembered something this morning when I woke up, something I forgot about the night you were shot."

Shawn looked up to the older man, with a confused look on his face. "What did you remember?" _Did he see something that I didn't? _

"Get dressed and come out to eat, I'll tell you over breakfast." Lassiter stood up and rubbed Shawn's shoulder gently.

Shawn's curious gaze followed Lassiter as the older man walked out of the room. Shawn couldn't think of anything he missed. Creepy guy in a creepy alley. He couldn't remember much of the incident now that he thought of it, but Lassiter noticed something. Shawn got out of the bed as fast as he could without hurting himself. He hurried through taking a shower and then getting dressed in jeans and a dark green collared shirt. Shawn walked into living room. He could see Lassiter in the kitchen standing at the stove. Shawn took a seat in the stool at the countertop.

"You like omelets, right?" The detective asked without turning around.

Shawn nodded. "Yeah, sure." He folded his hands on the counter. "So what did you remember?"

Lassiter slid the omelet off the frying pan and onto a plate before sliding it in front of the psychic. "Eat first. You're gonna need it."

Shawn grabbed the fork that was already sitting on the counter and took a bite. It was good. "Nice. I need to keep you here longer." Shawn said with a little smirk looking up to Lassiter. The older man had a face of stone has he watched the younger man eat, his arms crossed at his chest. "What?"

Lassiter shook his head. "Sorry, just thinking."

Shawn took another bite of his food. "Well I'm eating, so talk."

The head detective was silent for a few more moments. Shawn kept eating when he finally spoke. "He came out of a building, before he shot you right?" Lassiter said. He was looking down at the floor, his forehead wrinkling as he tried to remember.

Shawn tilted his head, trying to recall that night for himself. He shook his head. "I couldn't see him. I didn't even know what he looked like until I saw the case file last night when we met Jules."

"I didn't think you did, since you were under the light. But I think…" He paused for a moment trying to remember. "Everything happened so fast. I was following him for a while but I lost him for a bit before you were shot. He ducked into that building."

Shawn's eyes widen. "You're right! I didn't see him, but I did hear something before too. It was metal. A door? A gate?" Shawn finally remembered now, he jumped out of the stool.

Lassiter nodded. "Yeah, I remember now. That's why you stepped out from behind the car. That's when…"

"When what?"

Lassiter lifted his head slowly, finally looking at the psychic. He spoke softly. "When I saw you. I saw you, but I didn't say anything." His voice was full of frustration. "You were looking for me, but I didn't want to blow my cover. I'd been following him for so long!" He paused, hanging his head to rest it against his palm and rubbed his brow. "It was selfish and I'm sorry. If I jumped in at that moment and distracted him, you wouldn't have gotten hurt. But I stupidly waited until he pulled that fucking trigger. I lied to Vick that I had no idea you were there, I even eventually convinced myself that I didn't know you were there, but I did see you…"

Shawn opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. Both men were silent for a while. Shawn sat back down and Lassiter shifted slightly before walking closer to the counter. Shawn looked up to him. The detective's face was stern and cold. "What do we do now then?" The younger man asked quietly.

Lassiter looked at the younger man's face. He couldn't help feel the way Shawn did. They were depressed. A break in the case and no one to tell and he finally admitted the full story. He felt so guilty. Lassiter walked around to the other side of the counter and stood next to Shawn. "We'll go check it out, if you're up to it?" The detective couldn't think of anything else to say.

Shawn nodded, franticly trying to shake off Lassiter's confession. He had no idea that Lassiter knew he was there. "Yeah, yeah. No problem, but won't the cops still be there. I mean that place is my crime scene, right?"

Lassiter tried to smile. He rubbed his thumb over Shawn's forehead, secretly checking for a fever. "Yeah, but they'll be gone by now."

Shawn didn't know if Lassiter was putting up some sort of façade or if he was really acting like he cared. Even after everything last night. Having sex, making love, whichever you'd called it. After that confession. Their situation seemed so far from any reality and he couldn't say it was like a dream, which would be to cliché and just not true. _I have to know why he isn't pushing me away._ Shawn reached out and wrapped his fingers around the gray strings of his jacket that Carlton was wearing. "Look Lassiter, about last night, if you're not cool with this, I can totally understand." Lassiter's smile faded. Shawn realizing what he was saying, he redirected. "It's not that I'm not cool with it, of course, don't get the wrong idea. I mean I'm the one that totally initiated everything. So don't think I jumped into it without thinking."

Lassiter's smile reappeared. "I'd never think you'd jump into something without thinking. I knew you planned to get shot the entire time, but that's okay, I won't tell anyone." Lassiter said smoothly, trying to play everything off.

Shawn sighed, continued to fidget with the strings on the jacket . "What I mean is…" Shawn paused. "You don't have to put up with any of this just because you might be blaming yourself. Because if you are, then I'm not cool with it either." Shawn finished, hanging his head.

"Spencer, I'm not 'cool' with it." Lassiter said grabbing Shawn's wrists, his face emotionless and cold again.

Shawn's heart dropped and he forced a laugh. "Yeah well, I didn't think so." _So that's it. This cliché of a dream is finally over. This is Lassiter we're talking about._

"Hey, look at me, Spencer." Lassiter yanked on his wrists and Shawn looked up to the older man, still forcing his stiff smile. "I'm not cool with it," Lassiter repeated. "but… I'm okay about it."

Shawn's smile faded. He wasn't sure if Lassiter was telling a bad joke or if he really meant it. "You're not mad about it?" Shawn asked quietly, leaning closer to the detective.

Lassiter brought Shawn's hands to his chest, leaning in with the psychic. "No, I'm not mad, confused, but not mad." Shawn curled his fingers in the jacket as Lassiter closed the gap. They brushed lips for a moment, and then Carlton took in Shawn's upper lip and nipped at it gently before he pulled away. Shawn opened his eyes to look at Lassiter and leaned toward him for more. Lassiter, still holding the psychic's wrists nudged him back. "If we're going to check out the scene, we need to go now."

Shawn let loose a heavy breath in his chest and only nodded.

"Chief. Can I speak with you?" Juliet peeked into the office, cracking the door a bit.

Chief Vick shuffled some papers before setting them aside to her left. "Of course, did Coen offer anything of importance?" She asked looking up as Juliet fully entered the room, closing the door behind her.

"Well no, that's not what I wanted to talk about." She said sheepishly, cupping her hands together as she stood in front of the Chief's desk. "It's about Detective Lassiter's status."

"I thought I said I didn't want you talking to them." Vick said sternly.

"No. No, I didn't but Mr. Spencer, Shawn's dad, came is earlier before you arrived this morning. It seems that Lassiter is staying with Shawn in the mean time." Juliet was thoroughly flustered. Getting found out now would not be good.

"What's your point, O'Hara?"

"I'm just concerned." Juliet was getting more flustered.

"I gave them strict orders to not get involved." The chief said, tilting her head to the side.

"Yes, I know, but this is Shawn and Lassiter we're talking about. They're together." Karen paused for a moment, realizing what O'Hara was trying to say. "I'm just trying to say, one of them is bound to jump into this, whether there's consequences or not. I'm only requesting to be able to contact them, to keep tabs on them. I don't want anyone else to get hurt just because they don't know boundaries."

Karen's mouth twisted in hesitance. "You're probably right." She said with a sigh. "Fine, retain contact with them via Lassiter's cell. Tell him not to let Spencer out of his sight."

"Yes ma'am!"

The taxi pulled up to the curb across the street from Shawn's crime scene.

"We're here!" Said the old cabby in a gruff, low voice

"Lassie, look." Shawn said, whispering to the detective so the driver would not overhear. He was pointing to the police cruiser on the other side of the street. "What are they still doing here? You said they should be gone."

"It looks like they're taking extra precautions. You ever heard the saying 'they always return to the scene of the crime.'? I never told anyone that he went into a building; they just think I was still following him. They're just watching the crime scene because they probably have officers to spare." Lassiter whispered back, leaning into Shawn's ear.

"Hey! You're meter's still running, you getting out or what?" The old cabby grunted.

"Sir." Lassiter said in a polite voice, tapping on the cabby's seat. This is the wrong side. I'm sorry for the trouble but if you could go to the other side of the block. I'll give you an extra ten bucks if you could drive around."

The old cabby shift uncomfortably but nodded. "Sure, sure."

It only took five minutes to get back around the other side of the street. This side was clear. Lassiter paid the cabby his fair, plus the extra ten dollars as promised before helping Shawn out of the car. "Careful, Spencer. I don't want you ribbing your stitches out because I'm dragging you around town."

Shawn waved him off after getting out of the cab. "I'm fine. Stop babying me and act normal, we can't have anyone recognizing you. You're face has been all over the news for two days"

As the cab drove off down the empty street, Lassiter and Shawn made their way down the sidewalk. "It's clear. Let's go." Lassiter put his hand on Shawn's shoulder as they made a quick turn down the alley.

The alley looked totally different during the day, even to Shawn. That night the alley looked like a deathtrap that you want tell some character in a movie not to take a shortcut through, unless they wanted to get killed by some axe wielding serial killer with a grotesque face. That night the air was like ice, but today Shawn can feel the warm rays of the sun. There was no yellow police tape around the area as they walked up to the light post that Shawn laid under. No blood. Not even that white car was there. It was like the whole incident never even existed. They only proof he had that anything happened was the bullet wound at his side.

Lassiter was watching intently as the younger man studied the area. "You alright?"

Shawn nodded. "Yeah it just looks totally different then how I remember it."

The detective rubbed the psychic's shoulder before turning around. "Over here, I think." Lassiter said walking back behind them, Shawn followed suit. They walked up to a metal gateway. Shawn could see stone steps leading up to a stoop and big metal door that led into the building behind the gate. Lassiter sighed as he looked up and examined the gateway. "The gate's too high to climb alone, only one of us could get inside and there's no guarantee we could get back over. Besides, there's no way that door on the other side is unlocked."

Shawn tilted his head to the side as he examined the gate himself. There were three decorative mailbox looking numbers screwed into the side of the gate. _776_ "Maybe it's unlocked. Try and open it."

"I saw him lock it." Lassiter sighed as he pulled his jacket sleeves over his hands and pressed down the handle. The handle clicked and the gate opened. Both men looked at each other for a moment. Shawn was equally as surprised as Lassiter was. The psychic went through the gate first and up to the stoop. Lassiter glanced nervously around before following. Shawn saw that the metal door was cracked open too before Lassiter did. He nudged the detective, pointing the door knob. "Stand back, Spencer. Don't come in till I come back to get you." Shawn went back down the steps as he was told. Lassiter unzipped the gray jacket and pulled one of his personal pistols from his belt holster. Lassiter nudged the door open with his foot, pistol at the ready, and went inside. It didn't take very long before he came back. "It's clear."

"Geez, what a mess. This looks worse than the Psych office when Gus left for Comic-Con last year." Shawn scoffed as he entered the tiny room. There were three desks, a computer on each one, and papers everywhere. The one filing cabinet had been thrown open and the drawers were scattered all over the room, each one upturned, no longer holding any papers.

"Well someone must have been here." Lassiter holstered his pistol and re-zipped his jacket. "Be careful what you touch. If we find anything, we need to get O'Hara over here to investigate. We don't want our prints showing up if they decide to dust."

"I know." Shawn said, moving the papers around with the back of his hand. "Do you see anything, Lassie?"

Lassiter was at another table, shifting through another mess of papers, using his sleeves. "No. Not by just glancing at them. If we could just stay here we might find something or maybe jump on one of these computers, but that's too risky. They look like business reports and research papers, memos." Lassiter said none too happily, but then something caught his eye. "Oh, here. Look." Shawn turned around to face Lassiter. "This one says Kennedy Software."

"Kennedy?" Shawn asked curiously before looking back at his own pile of papers.

"It's the company Xavier Haines, was working for and Coen too."

"It's not the only company he had information on." Shawn said, looking at a paper he found. "This company is called M-Tech Programming."

Lassiter nodded. "I found another, Atlus Computer Software. It's information on some sort of data base they were designing."

"Why does he have so much info on different companies and their programs. Companies that he doesn't work for?" Shawn asked.

Lassiter shrugged. "Scouting out the competition. Trying to find their screw-ups."

"Wait a minute…" Shawn said, tapping on one paper with his knuckle.

Lassiter leaned over Shawn's shoulder. "What is it?"

"There's no name but I remember this address."

Lassiter leaned in closer, looking at the paper. "Texas? Houston, Texas? How do you know that address?"

Shawn turned to face Lassiter. "Do you remember my resume?"

Lassiter tried to stifle a laugh. "Yeah, I snuck a peek. There were like over 30 jobs on there. None of them longer than six months. What's your point?"

Shawn shook his head. "Well, it wasn't on the resume, but I helped this guy out while I was in Houston. I met him at the Club bar at an Astros game." Shawn put his fingers to his temple as if he was trying to remember. "Dev. His name was Devlin. I remember because his name was kinda creepy, but this was the address I met him at. It was one of those small office buildings that different companies were located on different floors."

"What kind of company did he work for?" Lassiter asked.

"I don't remember, I was walking up to the building but he was waiting for me outside. I never went in."

Lassiter cocked his eyebrow. "How'd you help him?"

"I don't know. I never asked any questions. But he had me running all around town delivering these envelopes at night. I never looked inside… I wish I did now. But it was weird. The packets felt like they had CD cases in them."

"CDs?"

Shawn nodded.

"I wonder if this as anything to do with our dead programmer." Shifting through the papers himself. None of the other papers on that desk had a Houston address.

Both men jumped, suddenly hearing music. "What is that?" Shawn asked looking at Lassiter, bewildered. "Is that the Cop's theme?"

"Shut up." Lassiter glared at the younger man and he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "Who the hell is calling me now?'

"Reporters?" Shawn asked, trying to lean over to get a glimpse at Lassiter's cell.

Lassiter shook his head, is face confused. "It's O'Hara. Is she crazy?" Lassiter hit the button to answer his phone. "O'Hara! Why are…?" Lassiter paused listening intently on the phone.

"What is she saying?"

Lassiter raised a hand up to silence him. "She got permission from Vick to keep tabs on us."

"Good, Shawn is with you." Juliet piped up over the phone. "The chief wants you to watch him. To make sure he doesn't jump into the case again."

"Did you call me just to tell me that?

"Well, yeah?"

Lassiter sighed. "Well anyway. I need to ask you something about the case. Can you talk now?"

"Yeah sure. The Chief is at lunch with the Chairman. What do you want to know?"

"Spencer and I are checking out a lead."

"What?! Carlton you're suppose to stay put. I agreed to let you in about what's going on, but I didn't honestly think you would go out on your own! I mean with Shawn, I'd expect it, but you too?"

Lassiter pulled the phone away from his ear, before placing it back in a safe distance that O'Hara didn't blow out his hear drum "Look, listen!"

"You're being irresponsible Carlton! What if Shawn gets hurt again?"

"O'Hara!"

"What?"

"Listen to me. Shawn's not going to get hurt again. I'm going to be with him and I'm not going to let that happen, but I need you to check out this address."

Juliet sighed. "Fine! Just this once. What's the address?"

"There's no front, but you remember the alley where Shawn was shot"

"Oh my God, Carlton! Why are you there? We have someone watching over there! You're gonna get caught."

"O'Hara, I know! I saw them. Will you stop scolding me for two minutes? There's a gate in the alley. It's labeled '776', tell me what's the name that comes with the address."

"Okay! Okay! Let's see. That's Samson Street. 776." There was a long pause. Lassiter could hear Juliet typing furiously in the background. "The lease contract says the person making payments for it is a man by the name of Devlin Daemon."

"Devlin Daemon? Are you sure?"

Shawn started jumping up and down. "I knew it! I knew it!" Lassiter flung his arm at him.

"Stop it!" He whispered under his breath.

"Yeah. What a weird name, but it's his legal name. It's on his passport and driver's license. I'm looking him up now. His record is totally clean. Not a spot of him. Oh, Wait! I got a hit."

"From what?"

"It seems he's a stock holder at the Kennedy Software company. You were right on the money Carlton, to get a warrant for the stock holder names."

"The company that our murder victim and suspect works for. How convenient is that?"

"Carlton, tell me what else you found out?"

"Nothing much that you won't find over here for yourself. Almost everything we need to make a case is in this pitiful room. Give us an hour and tell the Chief that you want to re-investigate Shawn's crime scene. You'll know where to look. Shawn and I are gonna hit another lead. Call me when you're you done and give us a heads up."

"Lemme talk to her. Lemme talk to her." Shawn said franticly. His hand's reaching out for the phone.

"Wait, Carlton!" There was ruffling over the phone a suddenly another voice came from the other end.`

"Trust us Jules. We know what we're doing. We're gonna find this guy." Suddenly the phone went dead.

Juliet pulled the phone away her phone from her ear and stared at it. "That's what I'm afraid of…"

Shawn and Lassiter started to make their way out of the alley. Lassiter was looking through his phone, pressed a button and gave it to Shawn. "Tell Guster we need information on this guy."

Shawn took the phone and put it to his ear, waiting for his friend to answer. "What are we gonna do now?"

Lassiter sighed. "We need to find Daemon. Find out who he is, where we can find him and why he's here in Santa Barbara."

"Gus, hey. Are you at Psych?"

"Shawn! You wouldn't believe how many people have come by asking about Lassiter. I had to close the office because the reporters wouldn't give up." Shawn could clearly hear panic in his friend's voice.

"Damn, they're at the office too." Shawn sighed looking to Lassiter. The detective's mouth was gapped open. Shawn shook his head. "Gus, forget about the media for a second, I want you to look someone up for me."

"Shawn does this have anything to do with the case? Because if it does, I'm not helping you. You already in enough trouble right now cause you couldn't keep your nose out of it in the first place."

"Gus, I just want you too Google the man's name and tell me what comes up."

"No, Shawn. I'm not getting involved."

"Ugh, hold on for a minute." Shawn threw his hands up. "He's not going to help us." Shawn said to the older man.

Lassiter took the cell phone from Shawn. "Look Guster." The other end of the phone went silent for a moment.

"L-Lassiter?" Gus voice was unsteady on the other end.

"Devlin Daemon. I need info. Now." Lassiter's voice was stern and harsh. Intimidation always worked well against Gus.

"Alright. Shawn always tries to get his way, but with you on his side he's going to have more power than ever before."

"Devlin Daemon, Guster."

"I know, I recognize the name. He's a very popular soft ware programmer. They call him a genius. But the thing is, he freelances most of the time, so he doesn't really work for anyone. He's helped program over one hundred top rate software, ranging for anywhere to photo editing programs to data bases for private companies. There's even a rumor he's helping to modify Government software. Companies request his assistance all the time, all over the country. That man is rich."

"We think he's in Santa Barbara."

"He is. He's building his own company off of 26th and Reese."

"That construction site is his building?" Lassiter nodded to Shawn. Just that moment the detective saw the psychic's face go white and saw him unsteady on his feet. He reached out to grab Shawn by the arm. "Shawn?! What's wrong?"

"What is it?" Gus said franticly over the phone.

Shawn went down on one knee. "I'm fine. I just got a little dizzy."

"You went as pale as a sheet." Lassiter kneeled down next to Shawn, feeling his face with his free hand. The younger man was sweating, his skin clammy.

"It's the pain medication. Make sure he doesn't take it too often." Lassiter heard Gus over the phone.

"I'll keep an eye on him. Thanks Guster, but we should go. I need to get him back home." Lassiter hung up the phone and replaced it in his pocket.

"I'm cold…" Shawn said. Lassiter reached up and felt his forehead. Shawn was burning up.

He stood up grasping Shawn by his shoulders and helping him up with him. "Come on, Spencer. You need to rest, we'll check out the construction site later." Lassiter shrugged of his borrowed jacket and put it around the psychic. Shawn nodded his head, leaning into Lassiter, clinging to the older man's chest.


End file.
